Catholic apologetic response: the amulets were 'lucky charms' not idolatrous — Jimmy Akin's baseball sock analogy

To avoid the mortal sin contradiction, Jimmy Akin argues the amulets were merely 'lucky charms' (like lucky baseball socks), not genuine acts of idolatry. Mike refutes this on two grounds: (1) the text explicitly says 'amulets sacred to the idols of Jamnia which the law forbids' — that is not superstition, it is idolatry by definition; (2) the text says God killed them for it, and if God kills someone over lucky socks, the category of 'lucky charm' is meaningless.