That is NOT at all what we Protestants are trying to say to you. We have no problem with you wanting to "pray the Rosary, read the epistles and gospel and chant psalms and commemorate Christ’s Last Supper, Passion and Death at Mass, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, protect the unborn, and, when you stray, go to confession and do penance"..... you are to be commended for wanting to do all of the above.
Our point is that you tell us Protestants that if we do not do all the above the same way you do (for instance, we pray, just not with a rosary, we confess our sins, but directly to God, not through a priest)then you tell us we are not saved.
We are saying that being saved does NOT hinge on that list of good works, as good as they are. Being saved hinges on one thing and one thing only... profession of faith in Jesus Christ and exactly what He taught.
I would not have such a negative feeling about the Roman Catholic Church if they would quit telling me that because I don't pray to Mary and the their designated "saints", confess to one of their priests, attend their Mass, give my money to them, be baptized in their particular ceremony (and I can go on and name hundreds of more works)then I am not saved. I am confident that it is NOT the Roman Catholic church that will save me, nor will any particular Protestant church save me. ONLY Christ Jesus will save me. And if I chose to worship Him in a Protestant church rather than in a Roman mass, then do NOT tell me I am wrong, for doing so, you are adding "works" to the conditions of salvation.
“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.