You cling to John 3:16. It's a wonderful passage but it is not more wonderful than John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word: and the Word was with God: and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him: and without him was made nothing that was made. 4 In him was life: and the life was the light of men.
Here we discover Christ's identity as God Himself, the second person of the Holy Trinity.
What your theology lacks is the why and how. Jesus brought a Gospel of love but without His sacrifice, there was no redemption... no covenant. As John says, he who believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. What does it mean to "believe" and why will we have everlasting life? "Belief" means more than willingness to listen, it means following faithfully. We do, as Catholics, what Christ told us to do... not always understanding. It is because Jesus is the High Priest offering the sacrifice of Himself for His Bride, The Church, to be joined to Himself, the Bridegroom, as one flesh. You can not fully understand John 3:16 without understanding who Jesus is, what is the New Covenant and why the need for sacrifice. What I gave you above does all of those things. The everlasting life we are promised is the inheritance of sons as we are rejoined to God's Holy Family through Christ's covenantal offering.
I’m not “splitting hairs” with you.
My inital statement is more or less you final statement. Christianity is nothing without Christ.
Your initial retort to my statement was that Christianity is nothing without Family. You might as well say that it is nothing without Truth. Christ’s embodyment of God (and God embodying all things Holy) means that all are correct- but Christ is the focus of our mutual faiths.