@doctorsex @kekkerel @FourOh-LLC @SuperLutheran >talmudic genie
Yeah man it's like the prosperity gospel for Catholics, unfortunately. I know a LOT of Catholics who have statues, and none of them take the weird pseudo idolatry level where they treat it as a good luck charm, but I know for sure it happens. My buddy lives near a lot of Mexicans and said it's extremely folk-magic type vibe from a lot of them, but they have some yucky cultural practices that weren't fully purged by the Spaniards.

>I've actually found that it has made me much more engaged in my devotion across the board. That would've been incomprehensible to me 10 years ago.
Praise God! That's awesome brother! Participating in service does make a huge difference. I felt the same way when I learned how to serve during liturgy. Active engagement really helped take my faith up another level.

This whole conversation is reminding me of a chat I had with some buddies from church a while back. One guy was being a bit critical of the more free form prayer from 'low church' fellas and saying it felt cheesy and forced. It reminded me of Luke 9:49 where there's references to people, who I believe were Jewish exorcists, casting out demons in the name of Jesus despite not following Him.
>Master,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.”
50“Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”
Something we could all benefit from sometimes. Maybe that's what God wanted to remind me of tonight. Cheers brother :whitemonster: