The shape of the latter had its origin in ancient Chaldea, and was used as the symbol of the god Tammuz (being in the shape of the mystic Tau, the initial of his name) in that country and in adjacent lands, including Egypt.”

⁵ Vine goes on to say: “By the middle of the 3rd cent. A.D. the churches had either departed from, or had travestied, certain doctrines of the Christian faith. In order to increase the prestige of the apostate ecclesiastical system pagans were received into the churches apart from regeneration by faith, and were permitted largely to retain their pagan signs and symbols.

8. What do other sources say about the cross and its origin?

⁸ The French Dictionnaire Encyclopédique Universel (Encyclopedic Universal Dictionary) says: “For a long time we believed that the cross, considered a religious symbol, was specifically for Christians. This is not the case.” The book Dual Heritage​—The Bible and the British Museum states: “It may come as a shock to know that there is no word such as ‘cross’ in the Greek of the New Testament. The word translated ‘cross’ is always the Greek word [stau·rosʹ] meaning a ‘stake’ or ‘upright pale.’ The cross was not originally a Christian symbol; it is derived from Egypt and Constantine.” The New Catholic Encyclopedia says: “The representation of Christ’s redemptive death on Golgotha does not occur in the symbolic art of the first Christian centuries. The early Christians, influenced by the Old Testament prohibition of graven images, were reluctant to depict even the instrument of the Lord’s [death]. . . . The cross comes to be represented in the time of Constantine.”

Constantine’s Cross

9. How is Emperor Constantine connected with the cross?

⁹ Constantine was the Roman emperor who convened the Council of Nicaea in 325 C.E. and influenced it to adopt the unscriptural doctrine that Christ was God. He did this to solidify his empire of pagans and apostate Christians. Of him The New Encyclopædia Britannica says: “On the eve of Constantine’s victory over Maxentius in 312, he saw a vision of the ‘heavenly sign’ of the cross, which he believed to be a divine pledge of his triumph.” It also says that thereafter Constantine promoted the veneration of the cross.

10. Why is it not reasonable or Scriptural to believe that God or Christ gave Constantine a “sign” involving a cross?

¹⁰ However, would God give a sign to a pagan leader who was not doing God’s will, and a pagan sign at that? Jesus rebuked his own countrymen for wanting signs. (Matthew 12:38-40) Furthermore, this pagan ruler was shedding innocent blood with carnal weapons for political supremacy and, in political intrigues, arranged the murder of relatives and other associates. In contrast, Jesus said: “My kingdom is no part of this world. If my kingdom were part of this world, my attendants would have fought.” (John 18:36) That is why he commanded Peter: “Return your sword to its place, for all those who take the sword will perish by the sword.”​—Matthew 26:52.

11. What motivated Constantine to promote the use of the cross?

¹¹ The book Strange Survivals says of Constantine and his cross: “That there was policy in his conduct we can hardly doubt; the symbol he set up gratified the Christians in his army on one side, and the [pagan] Gauls on the other. . . . To the latter it was the token of the favour of their solar deity,” the sun god they worshiped. No, Constantine’s ‘heavenly sign’ had nothing to do with God or Christ but is steeped in paganism.