Building Shrines

I think most Christians, when we read about ancient Israel building statues to Baal and we think similar to: "Man, what a bunch of idiots. They literally saw God part the Red Sea, and they're out here worshiping a statue with a cow head? Come on." Right? I mean, from the hindsight of several thousand years and a renaissance or two it can just seem silly to think of asking a statue to help you succeed in life.