Faith, Works, and Legalism

It's funny how Protestants accuse the Catholic Church of being works-based.  Most Protestant denominations believe in faith-only salvation.  We are saved by grace through faith alone.  Works can't get us into heaven.  You can't be "good enough" to get to Heaven.  In my Baptist church, my pastor loves to quote, "our righteousness is like filthy rags compared to Christ's."  He's right, but I have seen where it leads to problems within the Protestant church, and the very thing they accuse Catholics of is the very thing they have a problem with, themselves.

LEGALISM.

Legalism is HUGE in the Protestant church as a whole.  Legalism is the idea that we gain salvation or favor with God through behaving ourselves as we believe He would like us to.  Oddly enough, Protestants point fingers at the Catholic Church for this very thing because Catholics believe that works and faith are conjoined twins.

I tend to agree with them, although I do believe that someone can repent on their death bed, never having done works in the name of the Lord, and still go to eternity with Him.

Now, in my AG church, my pastor used to quote the faith formula:

Faith=Knowledge+Belief+Action.  Faith is a trinity.  We know there's a God, we believe in His son, Christ Jesus, and the Holy Spirit convicts us into action...doing what is right and the perfect Will of God.

So, how is that any different from the Catholic Church?