Some Roman Catholics Are Humanly Speaking, Good Citizens
It's very easy to accuse me that I'm saying all Roman Catholics are living sinfully. On the contrary, I don't believe that and I want to say there are some Roman Catholics who are humanly speaking, good citizens. Some Roman Catholics aren't only faithful to attend Sunday masses - they are also faithful to do whatever good they can. Some Roman Catholics are doing their best to be good people, humanly speaking. Some Roman Catholics can be seen even shaking their heads and disapproving of their fellow parishioners who sin from Monday to Friday, go to confession on Saturday, go to church on Sunday, and the cycle repeats again. I would agree with a Roman Catholic who said I can't judge them because of a parishioner of theirs who lives wantonly. Some of them even renounce the pseudo-apologists who tend to get dubbed as Catholic fake defenders because they aren't truly scholars in their religion. That would be a fallacy of generalization or false dichotomy.
However, the big problem that even the most well-behaved Roman Catholic has is that God's salvation is not the same as Santa Claus' naughty or nice list. The non-existent Santa Claus is only listing naughty or nice based on human standards. Inadvertently, Roman Catholics don't realize it but they're making salvation the same as Santa Claus' naughty and nice list. The big truth of God's salvation is that it's never been the kind of salvation of faith plus works.
The problem is Roman Catholics are still heeding to these words from the Vatican Canon law than the Word of God:
Canon 24. If anyone says that the justice (righteousness) received is not preserved and also not increased before God through good works but that those works are merely the fruits and signs of justification obtained, but not the cause of the increase, let him be anathema.
Canon 32. If anyone says that the good works of the one justified are in such manner the gifts of God that they are not also the good merits of him justified; or that the one justified by the good works that he performs by the grace of God and the merit of Jesus Christ (of whom one is a living member), the justified does not truly merit an increase of grace, and eternal life, provided that one dies in the state of grace, the attainment of this eternal life, as well as an increase in glory, let him be anathema.
The big problem of Roman Catholics who are humanly speaking, good citizens, lies in the motive behind their good works. They are still stuck with the teaching that their righteousness is increased before God by their works. Worse, they condemn the idea that the good works of the Christian are but signs of justification and not the cause is a heresy. They want to add their own good works to saving faith. That's why it's very difficult to really believe Roman Catholics supposedly trust Christ alone for their salvation. It has become Christ plus good works, Mary, saints, and the sacraments. The Bible, however, makes it clear that salvation is by faith in Jesus alone yet this salvation is never alone. Instead, the Bible makes it clear that salvation is by faith and that this faith results in good works. There's no merit in the changed life of the believer.
If they want to claim themselves to be apostolic then why not take a deeper look into apostolic writings? True, wicked people go to Hell and righteous people go to Heaven but that's just half the truth. Biblically speaking, we're all wicked people before the eyes of a holy, righteous God. Romans 3:10-19 declares that we're all guilty before God's Law. James 2:10-11 says that we're incapable of working for our salvation. It's very hard to believe because people are used to believing that their own personal efforts will win God's favor. Unfortunately, that doesn't work. If salvation came along with human effort then the birth, the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ are rendered invalid. Jesus' birth was necessary because the human effort does nothing to contribute to salvation. Jesus' birth happened because He was to live that perfect life as the Son of God in the flesh, die in order to pay the penalty for sin, and resurrect in order to conquer death.
Does Ephesians 2:10 add works to faith? If it did then it would contradict what was stated earlier. Rather, the real issue with Ephesians 2:10 is that it says while salvation is by grace through faith, not of yourselves - it also states that any true salvation leads to real changed life. Titus 2:11-14 says that God's grace leads to righteous living. 1 Corinthians 6:11 says that "such were some of you" referring that many people abandoned the sinful lifestyles they loved so much. Hebrews 9:14 says that Jesus' blood purges the conscience from dead works to serve the living God. The issue again is all about pride as to why Rome teaches faith plus works rather than a faith that results in good works. No Roman Catholic living as good citizens will make it to Heaven if they don't trust Christ alone for their salvation. This is not to be hateful but to be loving to Roman Catholics this Christmas season.