Need feed back when talking to Protestants.

First off I'm new to the Catholic faith, not confirmed, so if I'm not representing the Catholic view please tell me.

I'm formerly Protestant, was raised Baptist/Pentecostal for the most part, most of my family is still Protestant.

The biggest complaint I hear from them is the whole, "so you believe in works salvation." or "you believe you maintain your salvation, and can lose it if you don't"

To be honest I also thought this before learning what Catholics teach, and also before I really paid attention to what Protestants mean by Faith alone. (I thank James White for explaining it well enough to break me out of my trance😂)

I've been answering like this when confronted by Protestants. "Catholics do not think you save yourself, initial Justification is by God through Faith, then salvation comes through Baptism and the other sacraments which work with our Faith to sanctify us. We can not lose our salvation like a set of car keys, we rather walk away from it, not accidently, fully aware of what we are doing, though if we repent we can come back"

I then point out like this about their own views, if they even know them. "the Protestant view is actually similar, but less honest, it says catchy phrases like Faith alone, but Faith is never alone, and when you ask them if you see a person sinning, like a "Christian" murdering people, they say he was never really saved. Now this could be true, maybe they were not saved, but if we draw that out it's logical conclusion, everyone has to walk around not knowing if they have real Faith, so you look to your actions for signs you're really saved, putting your faith in your works for proof you really have saving faith. DO you see the issue here? the Circular reasoning?"

I try to reason with them that the protestant view looks to Faith based in works. The Catholic view looks to the works based in Faith.

• Protestant: Looking at subjective internal faith leads to judging faith by works. This results in looking at oneself taking the focus off works based in love and genuine Faith.
• Catholic: Looking at objective sacramental grace leads to works rooted in faith. This results in looking at Christ and His Church the places we are suppose to put our Faith in to begin with.

As a Catholics we look outward at the Church He established and the Sacraments He instituted. Our standing with God is anchored in His objective actions rather than our subjective emotional state, our works are freed from being an assurance test. They become real works in love and genuine Faith

I'm not sure if this is the best way to go about it. Many Protestants are also OSAS, and yes in a 4th dimensional thinking God knows who are saved and will not abandon the Faith based on foreknowledge, but this is combined with our synergistic effort to remain in him as John 15:5-6 says.

At this point I lose most of them, and I'm sure there is a better way to explain these issues without confusing people.