Family Funeral yesterday RCC Priest I confronted

Yesterday, I attended my aunt's funeral; she was 86, and I was able to speak and memorialize her.

The Catholic priest who led the service said many things that I had to confront him about. His answers were very shocking and disappointing.

He said

1. there is no eternal punishment. That was old tradition God did not do eternal punishment as what was talk or interpreted in the old days
2. God is love, and he does get upset as even your own father would when you do something wrong, but you still get a gift for Christmas.
3. he said this coming November, get out all the pictures of your loved ones, and we will pray for all dead family members for the whole month of November.

After the service, I walked up to him and asked if I could speak with him, and he agreed.

I said you told all my family members there is no eternal punishment, and if there is none because of my sins, why did Jesus have to die?

If there is no payment needed to God for my sins, and IF there is no hell, why did Jesus have to die?

The Preist Told me there are many interpretations, but the Vatican changed it and the Pope.

I asked When Said in John 3:16 -19,

"16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil."

Was Jesus lying here?

The priest told me, "There are those who believe unless you ask Jesus to come into your heart as lord, you don't go to heaven; "

He then said to me as he looked all over the Cementry, "What do you say to all these dead people who are here in the place?"

I said, " I tell them Nothing"; "they are dead."

Their fate is sealed. They either came to know Jesus as Lord or they did not, and it is between them and God now that they are dead. We let the dead bury the Dead, as Jesus said.

The Priest then told me that was the old tradition.

I asked him if Jesus' words were authoritative when he was speaking. Jesus is God, right?

He said, "Yes, but there are many kinds of truth."

I told him Jesus said HE was the truth in John 14:6, and he said that as an imperative, meaning he is the only truth. Not a truth among many but the only one, the only way, and the only life. Who is going to tell all these people here of that Salvation, and why would they need it if there is no hell? And why would Jesus' death on the Cross mean anything if there is no need to be forgiven? The Preist told me, "They have you."

I told him it was your Job today. The priest told me to pray for him. I laughed, gave him a hug, and left.

There is a serious abandonment of the Gospel message today and a complete removal of the reason for Jesus' death. There needs to be a return to the fear of the Lord and holding to HIS word.

IMO, the argument was over when you stated he was Roman Catholic. Yeah, I pretty much disregard their teachings...

I feel sorry for the millions of people who were born into and raised in that religion. They really don't know any better for the most part. I also believe all the Priests and such from that religion will answer for the millions of people they led astray with false teachings of Christianity. Now, that is just my opinion, but.......

There are several interesting topics woven into the OP, but I just came from a thread which OP struck me as missing something that I determined must be the fear of the Lord. And, along the way of trying to understand exactly what that is, one of my teachers introduced a new perspective on it, the fear of the Lord as in the consideration of the Lord's (only) fear; our separation from Him. And if, indeed, this is a legitimate consideration, it might help answer "why" Jesus, not only had to but also was willing to die, as His death (that is, joining Himself to us in death) is the means by which we can be reconciled (and one of the definitions is: cause to coexist in harmony).
The thought that led me to think more about the subject of the fear of the Lord was the impression that this particular poster had not actually realized the horror of her own sin, or the sheer terror of the realization of having separated herself from God, for God's sake alone. That is, apart from whatever place that might lead one to.

Not surprised as a former catholic i have known for a long time that the catholic church is a false religion, as we get closer to the end times the false teachings and falling away from the truth is expanding with more and more false doctrines coming out of the Vatican..

That's why i encourage people to read the Bible for themselves.. At lest then they have the opportunity to read what The LORD actually said..

I am sorry to hear about your grandmother and may God have mercy on her soul.
This priest who led the service is not indoctrinated but simply inexperienced.

I could tell when he repeatedly said “that’s old tradition” while being confused about all the old traditions except praying for the dead. He got that one right.
Before the Catholics had a schism from the Orthodox Church when there was a direct line of believers and traditions from the Apostles themselves, the following things were already established:

1. There is eternal punishment. This stands today in my Orthodox church.
2. God is a merciful God, that’s how we’ve always called Him.
3. We do pray for the dead to this day. He got this one right.

he told the Vatican and the pope said there is no torment.

We would all agree that this has happened. At one time the Catholic Church accepted everything you had stated, although it rejected justification by grace through faith. But more recently they have been teaching liberal lies to the priests, who are already blind to the truth.

Here is the Catholic position on Hell from their New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia. It does speak of Gehenna, although they have all kinds of unbiblical ideas about the afterlife.
Hell
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Hell (newadvent.org)

Here is their position on the sacrifice of Christ on the cross as stated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
571 The Paschal mystery of Christ's cross and Resurrection stands at the centre of the Good News that the apostles, and the Church following them, are to proclaim to the world. God's saving plan was accomplished "once for all"313 by the redemptive death of his Son Jesus Christ.
572 The Church remains faithful to the interpretation of "all the Scriptures" that Jesus gave both before and after his Passover: "Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?"314 Jesus' sufferings took their historical, concrete form from the fact that he was "rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes", who handed "him to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified".315
573 Faith can therefore try to examine the circumstances of Jesus' death, faithfully handed on by the Gospels316 and illuminated by other historical sources, the better to understand the meaning of the Redemption.
Catechism of the Catholic Church - IntraText (vatican.va)

That one is a catholic teaching and it is dead wrong.. No pun intended.. Non of our prayers can change the judgement of God upon one who has lived their lives and now face judgement.. The belief that they can is just wishful thinking and was also used as an avenue to exploitation where catholic religious orders would agree to pray for a dead person if their living relatives paid them money..