31 May, 2007

She Just "Delivers Them Over to Satan"

VICTORIA, B.C.
Karen Tarville is not one to fool around. Among her friends, her family and her fellow church members she is known as a "no nonsense" kind of person. But recently her attitude towards others has become disturbing and is beginning to deeply trouble many around her.

It all began about five weeks ago during Tarville's Sunday School at the United Baptist Church in Victoria. The small adult class had been studying through the book of 1 Corinthians when they came to 1:4,5 where the Apostle Paul says in reference to the Corinthian man who is involved in immorality,
"In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus."

The class discussed the verses for several minutes and came to no conclusion, but members of the class reported to have noticed a "strange look" on Tarville's face.

"It almost looked as if Karen was smiling" said Crista Lindsey, a member of Tarville's Sunday School class. "She didn't say anything while we discussed the matter, which is strange, she just kept sitting there looking around the room with this strange smile on her face."

It was not until the following Sunday that a problem emerged.

"I was helping Karen get the coffee ready before Sunday School and everything was going fine" said Lindsey. "Then I told her that I had forgotten to bring the half-and-half from home. She suddenly just flew off the handle and started yelling at me. Then she got right up in my face and pointed her finger at me and said 'I'm delivering you over to Satan!'"

As the day progressed on, people began noticing Tarville's outbursts more and more as she one-by-one delivered people over to Satan.

"I don't have time to mess around" said Tarville. "I'm just following Scripture here. If I don't like what you're doing you can bet I'm going to deliver you over to Satan. It's the only way your spirit can be saved, so consider it an act of kindness."

Members of the congregation have become frustrated and angry over Tarville's attitude.

"I think she is grossly misinterpreting that passage" said member Jeff Parks. "She came up to my ten-year-old son after church and told him 'You really need to pray for your dad, because I had to turn him over to Satan this morning.' William came home crying."

The church's pastor and elders have made plans to confront Tarville, but knowing her personality they are less than confident that the confrontation will go well.

"We hope for the best, but chances are we're all going to end up being 'delivered over to Satan' by Karen" said the church's Pastor, Edgar Strum. "We've considered turning the tables and delivering her over, but I just don't know about that yet."

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey All,

Sorry for the late post today. I haven't slept well all week so I took an Ambien last night and was completely out of it.

-Tom

Religion Roundtable said...

Maybe if individuals begin handing one another over to Satan, it will motivate churches as a whole to actually begin practicing biblical church discipline.

However, I am a bit worried that Karen Tarville's motivation is not reconciliation.

Chris said...

The problem with churches not practicing Biblical church discipline is that they have no concept of the doctrine of the church. At best, many mainstream churches are loose federations of associate pastors, or at worst, they are pastocracies with no membership policies to speak of. Many churches these days do not feel they have the right to exercise the mandates that the Lord has given them.

Great post, though, Tom. I thought it was funny how the church wasn't sure how confronting Karen would go. lol. Wussy church. :)

Stefan Ewing said...

Hope you slept well last night, then, Tom.

I lived in Victoria for 2 years...people there are too laid back for this kind of thing.

Richard said...

Haha. I wonder if she delivered 'em over to Satan while speaking it in tongues?

Anonymous said...

no comment... It might be used against me...