Reformation leaders, such as Luther and Calvin, did seek a return to the Chistianity of the early Church Fathers, but more radical reformers cared little about patristic writing. Evangelicals are only now rediscovering them. But I have never met a Baptist layman who has any knowledge about the Christological controveries of the 4th and 5th Centuries. Repudiating the historical creeds as authoritative has led to the repudiation of the Confessions, which are rational disagreementsd with Catholic doctrine. To reduce Christianity to the simple statement that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savor is to ignore two thousand years of reflection on the the question Our Lord asked: Who do you say that I am? There have been a thousand different opinions? Who is right?
Christ told us to come to Him as children. That does not mean stupidly or mindlessly, it means without guile and expectation.
As a Protestant, I see the RC church adorning God's grace with all kinds of plastic baubles and shiny inconsequential beads that actually diminish the gift itself. It is top heavy with man-made hoops which have nothing to do with Scriptural instruction. There are thousands of verses that challenge the vast and intricate rigmarole the RC church has established which very nearly obscures the truth of Christ risen.
When Jesus was asked how we should live, He gave a sermon about trust and obedience and fellowship by His name.
But when He was asked how we are saved, He "reduced Christianity to a simple statement..." And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name." -- John 20:29-31"...blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
So we are told that we learn of our salvation in Scripture by the possession of Trinitarian faith in Jesus Christ.
Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you... But the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." -- John 20:10-20,26 "Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
The great Scottish reformer, John Knox, on his appraisal of the "reflections" of the RC church...
"That God's word damns your ceremonies it is evident; for the plain and straight commandment of God is, 'Not that thing which appears good in thy eyes shalt thou do to the Lord thy God, but what the Lord thy God has commanded thee; that do thou; add nothing to it; diminish nothing from it.' Now unless you are able to prove that God has commanded your ceremonies, this his former commandment will damn both you and them." -- John Knox (Knox, Works, 1:199. Cf. Calvin, The Necessity of Reforming the Church, in Tracts, 1:128-29.)