“Being saved hinges on one thing and one thing only... profession of faith in Jesus Christ and exactly what He taught.”
If that be the case, then articles dealing with whether or not Catholics can be saved are unnecessary, divisive, and really, unChristian.
You should have the courage of conviction in your Faith and not worry about what some saint, bishop, priest, or pope or Catholic theologian thinks or says about your route to salvation, just as we Catholics should not really care what you think about our route to salvation.
If you ask Catholics if they are “saved”, the correct (for a Catholic) answer is “I don’t know.” That is because salvation is ultimately God’s decision, and one that is made at the time of Judgement. So, that is why I believe discussions like these are truly, truly idiotic, since NOBODY KNOWS GOD’S MIND.
If we spent more time loving those who love God and praying for those who don’t, we would be much better off.
And I am personally fine if you don’t want to pray the Rosary, or ask Saint Luke the Physician to pray for the health of a loved one or friend: all our prayers go to God, anyway.
None of my posts said anything about defending the article itself. I was merely defending the truth that (a)"the church" (God's body of believers) is not confined to the Roman Catholic church but consists of all believers; and (b) there are no works necessary for admittance to heaven (thank goodness because if there were then all of us would fall short), belief is the only requirement.
I will not argue with, nor find fault with Roman Catholics (like you ??) who do not disagree with my two points. I have many Catholic friends who I consider to be saved Christians. But I will always be ready to defend my faith against those who tell me that Roman Catholicism is the only true faith. As I said before, it is not the membership in a particular denomination that saves you.
Above is quite an interesting topic to explore in scriptures. Perhaps for another thread. God made a lot of promises to Abram before Abram took one step out of his homeland to go to the promised land. As Genesis progresses we see God continue to affirm His promises and manifest them physically. No different in the New Covenant. God is the Ultimate Promise keeper.