CROSS- an upright wooden stake or post in which Jesus was executed. ...,the Greek word for cross referred primarily to a pointed stake used in rows to form the walls of a defensive stockade." Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary p.265







"The Shape of the Cross. In time the simple pointed stake first used for execution was modified." Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary p. 266 While this dictionary admits the simple stake was used at first and then changed it does not indicate when that change happened. "Scholars are not certain when a crossbeam was added to the simple stake." Same page as above. Despite this admission they are willing to support the idea that Jesus was executed on the cross popularly thought of today.







"CROSS (Gk. stauros, a "stake"; Lat. crux). The cross that was used as an instrument of death. (see Crucifixion) was either a plain vertical stake to which the victim was fastened, with the hands tied or nailed above the head, or such a stake provided with a crossbar, to which the victim was fastened with the arms outstretched."... "The cross was widely known as an emblem in pre_Christian times has been clearly shown by independent investigators. Indeed, it was a well-known heathen sign. The Vestments of the priests of Horus,the Egyptian god of light, are marked + ." The New Unger's Bible Dictionary, p. 263 A HEATHEN SIGN?







"The exact time of its adoption as a Christian emblem is unknown. ...,It was only after superstition took the place of true spiritual devotion that the figure of the cross was used or borne about as a sacred charm.



In the latter part of the third century people signed the cross in token of safety and laid stress on figures of it as a preservative against both spiritual and natural evil. This superstitious feeling was stimulated by the discovery of what was held to be the real cross upon which our Lord suffered." Same article as above.



Its interesting that this scholar has indicated that the churches had fallen into widespread superstitious belief by the end of 200's. That would be just another indicator of the superstitious and pagan roots of the Trinity dogma which started to be formulated in 325 and wasn't formal until the late 300's and even then not universally accepted. All this work being done by admitted 'supersitious christians'.







"The Gk. word for 'cross'(stauros;...) means primarily an upright stake or beam, and secondarily a stake used as an instrument for punishment and execution. It is used in this latter sense in the NT." New Bible Dictionary Second Edition, Tyndale House Publishers, p. 253



"Apart from the single upright post (crux simplex) on which the victim was tied or impaled, there were three types of cross." Same as above. This dictionary goes on to discuss the other types of cross but says of the cross pictured in popular thinking today that it is "held by tradition to be shape of the cross on which our Lord died." Again tradition is the source for this idea not Scripture.







"Stauros...denotes, primarily, an upright pale or stake. On such malefactors were nailed for execution. Both the noun and the verb stauroo, to fasten to a stake or pale, are originally to be distinguished from the ecclesiastical form of a two-beamed cross. the shape of the latter had its origin in ancient Chaldea, and was used as a 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. By the middle of the 3rd century 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. Hence the Tau or T, in its most frequent form, with the crosspiece lowered, was adopted to stand for the cross of Christ." Vine's Expository Dictionary p. 256



The idea of an Apostate Church origin of today's popular traditions in Christendom is not a novel one.



Speaking of the antichrist; "the spirit of the thing was already at work in Paul's day... The story of the Church as a whole, even to this day, makes a sorry looking picture. Taking a broad general view of the visible Church, as it has existed from the first century to the present time, it is not inaccurate to call it an Apostate Church." Halley's Bible Handbook, page 629-30. copyright 1965



"Babylon the Great Harlot" may be Heaven's name for a Apostate Christendom as a whole." Halley's Bible Dictionary, p.him to 733 copyright 1965



"...,our churches so generally are so thoroughly Humanized, so full of Worldliness, Indifference, Half Heartedness, Pleasure-Seeking, all kinds of Evil Indulgence, so much Unbelief in Pulpits and Seminaries, so little of God's Word in the Preaching, so little of Christ in the Services, so much Lifeless Formalism, so much Professionalism and Ecclesiastical Pomp, so little of the real spirit of Christ, so much Ignorance of God's Word, and so much Indifference to it in the Pulpit- All This makes it looked as if the church as a Whole HAS NOT YET COME OUT OF ITS GREAT APOSTACY." Halley's Bible Handbook, Page 733. copyright 1965







Mr. Halley thought that Christendom as a whole was apostate, the apostacy starting as soon as the Apostles were gone. While he thought that the Reformation was the call to "Come out of her my people" (Revelation 18:4) he made it clear that Christendom was ignoring that call was still steeped in apostacy.







The claim is made that no other scholar uses the word stake or torture stake as the New World Translation does yet here is one example a scholar (a Messianic Jew) that consistently used the terms 'stake' and "execution stake" because historical and cultural and linguistic accuracy requires it.







As they were leaving, they met a man from Cyrene named Shimon; and they forced him to carry Yeshuas execution-stake. Matthew 27:32 Jewish New Testament , David Stern







Then Yeshua told his talmidum, If anyone wants to come after me, let him say No to himself, take up his execution-stake, and keep following me. Matthew 16:24 Jewish New Testament, David Stern







And anyone who does not take up his execution-stake and follow me is not worthy of me. Matthew 10:38 Jewish New Testament, David Stern







and saying, So you can destroy the temple, can you, and rebuild it in three days? Save yourself, if you are the Son of God, and come down from the stake!? Matthew 27:40 Jewish New Testament, David Stern







He saved others, but he cant save himself! So hes King of Israel, is he? Let him come down now from the stake! Then well believe him.! Matthew 27:42 Jewish New Testament, David Stern







Then Yeshua called the crowd and his talmidim to him and told them, If anyone wants to come after me, let him say, No to himself, take up his execution-stake, and keep following me. Mark 8:34 Jewish New Testament, David Stern







A certain man from Cyrene, Shimon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country; and they forced him to carry the stake. Mark 15:21 Jewish New Testament, David Stern







Save yourself and come down from the stake! Mark 15:30 Jewish New Testament, David Stern







and, So hes the Messiah, is he? The King of Israel? Let him come down now from the stake! If we see that, then well believe him! Even the men nailed up with him insulted him. Mark 15:32 Jewish New Testament, David Stern







Then to everyone he said, If anyone wants to come after me, let him say No to himself, take up his execution-stake daily and keep following me. Luke 9:23 Jewish New Testament, David Stern







Whoever does not carry his own execution-stake and come after me cannot be my talmid. Luke 14:27 Jewish New Testament, David Stern







As the Roman soldiers led Yeshua away, they grabbed hold of a man from Cyrene named Shimon, who was on his way in from the country, They put the execution-stake on his back and made him carry it behind Yeshua. Luke 23:26







When they came to the place called The Skull, they nailed him to a stake; and they nailed the criminals to stakes one on the right and one on the left. Luke 23:33







Carrying the stake himself he went out to the place called Skull (in Aramaic, Gulgotha). John 19:17 Jewish New Testament, David Stern







Pilate also had a notice written and posted on the stake: it read, YESHUA FROM NATZERET THE KING OF THE JEWS. John 19:19 Jewish New Testament, David Stern







Nearby Yeshuas execution-stake stood his mother, his mothers sister Miryam the wife of Klofah, and Miryam from Magdala. John 19:25 Jewish New Testament, David Stern







It was Preparation Day, and the Judeans did not want the bodies to remain on the stake on Shabbat, since it was an especially important Shabbat. So they asked Pilate to have the Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies removed. John 19:31 Jewish New Testament, David Stern







For the Messiah did not send me to immerse but to proclaim the Good News-and to do it without relying on wisdom that consists of mere rhetoric, so as not to rob the Messiahs execution-stake of its power. For the message of the execution-stake is nonsense to those in the process of being destroyed, but to us in the process of being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:17,18 Jewish New Testament, David Stern







The Messiah redeemed us from the curse pronounced in the Torah by becoming cursed on our behalf; for the Tanakh says, Everyone who hangs from a stake comes under a curse. Galatians 3:13 Jewish New Testament, David Stern







And as for me, brothers, if I am still preaching that circumcision is necessary, why am I still being persecuted? If that were the case, my preaching about the execution-stake would cause no offense whatever. Galatians 5:11 Jewish New Testament, David Stern







It is those who want to look good outwardly who are trying to get you to be circumcised. The only reason they are doing it is to escape persecution for preaching about the Messiahs execution-stake. Galatians 6:12 Jewish New Testament, David Stern















But as for me, Heaven forbid that I should boast about anything except the execution-stake of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Through him, as far as I am concerned, the world has been put to death on the stake; and through him, as far the world is concerned, I have been put to death on the stake. Galatians 6:14 Jewish New Testament, David Stern







and in order to reconcile to God both in a single body by being executed on a stake as a criminal and thus killing in himself that enmity. Ephesians 2:16 Jewish New Testament, David Stern







he humbled himself still more by becoming obedient even to death- death on a stake as a criminal! Philippians 2:8 Jewish New Testament, David Stern







For many - I have told you about them often before, and even now I say it with tears - live as enemies of the Messiahs execution-stake. Philippians 3:18 Jewish New Testament, David Stern







and through his Son to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace through him, through having his Son shed his blood by being executed on a stake. Colossians 1:20 Jewish New Testament, David Stern







He wiped away the bill of charges against us. Because of the regulations, it stood as a testimony against us; but he removed it by nailing it to the execution-stake. Colossians 2:14 Jewish New Testament, David Stern







looking away to the Initiator and Completer of that trusting, Yeshua-who, in exchange for obtaining the joy set before him, endured execution on a stake as a criminal, scorning shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2 Jewish New Testament, David Stern







The popular notion of the cross today is clearly the result of unscriptural traditions, falsehoods, supersitious and pagan notions and as such is appropriately rejected by Jehovah's Witnesses today.