Was the cross REALLY a symbol of Tammuz? Question for Jehovah's Witnesses and others?

Question

Repeatedly on YA, I read that the "taw"or cross was orginally the symbol of Tammuz. I know that this idea came from Rev Hislop who wrote The Two Babylons. But he doesn't put forth any evidence in his book to directly connect Tammuz with the cross, except that Tammuz begins with the letter T.

The Bible seems to contradict Mr. Hislop's conclusion. Ezekiel 9:4 says that God told Ezekiel to put a taw mark (Heb) on the foreheads of his people who were crying over the abominations being practiced in Israel. One such abomination was women weeping for Tammuz mentioned earlier, in Ezekiel 8:14.

If Hislop is correct that the taw - Tammuz' initial- was the "sacred initial" &"recognised symbol" of Tammuz, then Jehovah was telling Ezekiel to mark his faithful worshipers with the mark of Tammuz.

So I have two questions .

1. Is there any REAL evidence that the taw was identified with Tammuz, and

2. Why did Jehovah want his people to be marked with the sign of Tammuz?

Abijah, it is my understanding that the letter which was the initial of Tammuz was the taw - similar to an X.

TeeM, I'm sorry if I'm not being clear. First of all, I said it is my "understanding". If you have some further information, please share. I really want to know.

From what I've read, the taw - Babylonian and Hebrew - is shaped more like an X, not a T. The Greek alphabet and English use a T for the T sound, but the Babylonians and Hebrews used the taw . In English, Tammuz initial is a T, but in Babylon and Israel, it was an X. That's how I understand it. But I'm open to learning more on the subject, so if I'm wrong, please set me straight.
Why do you think Tammuz initial was a T, and not an x?

By the way, I agree with you that Jehovah wanted them marked with an x, and not a T or "cross" in the traditional sense of the word.

Annsan, I agree with you about Hislop. That was exactly my opinion of the book when I read it. And I confess I didn't read every bit of it. I'm glad to know the Watchtower no longer quotes him, if that's the case. I know that others have also researched Hislop, and found that he lacks credibility.

Tee M, are you saying that when Ezekiel wrote Tammuz in Hebrew, the first letter was written as a T and not an X? How could that be when taw (x) was the letter with the T sound? hat Tammuz isn't Hebrew, it's the English equivalent, written with English letters, so you and I can read it, but we couldn't have read what Ezekiel wrote because he wrote it using the ancient Hebrew letters.

But let's suppose that Ezekiel used the Hebrew taw (x) in chapter 9, but spelled Tammuz using the Greek alphabet and used a T instead . That would answer question #2.
But no one has attempted to answer #1 . Even if Tammuz' initial was a T, where is there any evidence that the T was the recognized symbol of Tammuz? All false gods have initials - it doesn't mean they "own" the initial.

I do appreciate that you took the time to look up some info and if you can show me that the Babylonians spelled Tammuz with a T, not x, I'll accept that the taw wasn't the same as Tammuz' initial.

Achtung, I appreciate knowing that. At one time, I think the WT quoted Hislop quite a bit.
I agree about the taw - used by itself much like an x, a mark, or a signature.

You raise some interesting points for some later questions.

But the question is: what evidence is there that the cross was the symbol of Tammuz?

The Journal of Semitic Studies doesn't provide any.

Your quote from Hislop quoting Col. Wilford, when read in context, seems to be trying to prove a connection between the tree of life in the paradise of God, and a sacred tree in pagandom. Hislop's statement that the cross is the "indisputable sign" of Tammuz is widely accepted by people such as yourself. But I'd like a little more reason to believe it, other than the fact that Rev Hislop believed it and wrote it down. Did you notice he cited NO evidence linking Tammuz to the cross? Except the initial which isn't even a T unless you're using the Greek alphabet.

Wm Vine cites no proof or ancient writing; just declares his opinion -probably based on Hislop's widely circulated writings - as if it's a fact.

Millions believe Jesus died on a cross-is that proof? Not to me

sklmetti

I agree the cross shouldn't be used in worship.

I do not agree that nothing else needs to be said. When people insist repeatedly that the cross was the symbol of Tammuz, they should be able to offer a solid reason why we should believe that. No one - including you - has yet provided any good reason to believe Hislop's claims.

I would just like for someone to prove it, or else stop spreading this unfounded assertion. If someone can prove it, I will help them spread it around.

Achtung, your comments intrigue me.

As you and Annan point out, it was the WORSHIPFUL USE of the cross that Hislop claimed came from pagans. He didnt question if Jesus died on a cross. But he also claimed that the cross was THE recognized symbol of Tammuz. How did he know ? He didn't produce any link between the two. Nor did he show a link between Tammuz' cross worship and the early church. Similarities, certainly, and the idea is not unreasonable. BUT the worshipful use of the cross could also have developed over time independently of Tammuz. We simply don't know.

As for Hislop, it seems that the WT must have realized long ago that his speculations weren't reliable. Yet it seems, from what you say, that JW's have been left 'hanging on a limb', so to speak. TeeM quoted Hislop just yesterday, (He didn't identify the quote, but I'm sure you recognize it as I did.)

I just want people to tell the truth, and not dazzle others with theories posing as fact

keiichi

Thank you for answering. I didn't understand your answer, though.

Are you saying that Babylonian coins have been found bearing a T? And that the T looked like the Hebrew letter tav? But you said the Hebrew letter tav looked like an x. I don't really understand, could you explain further?

Also, I'm very interested in the coinage that you mentioned. Could you tell me when these coins were found in Bablyon? And what else was on the coins? How is it known that the T on the coins was a symbol of Tammuz?

Could you share with me where you found this information?

Tee M, you rock! That is the closest thing - the ONLY thing - I've ever seen that connects Tammuz in any way - however vague - to anything that resembles a cross. It actually looks more like a sword to me than an initial, and I think it's a far cry from definite proof that the T was "owned" by Tammuz, but I give you a big thumbs up for finding it.

There are probably hundreds of references that say that T was the symbol of Tammuz, but in the vast majority of cases, it leads back to Alexander Hislop - either directly or indirectly. If you look up Tammuz and the cross on the Internet, you will find hundreds, maybe thousands, of websites quoting The Two Babylons or quoting someone who got their information from the Two Babylons. Now I can at least see SOME basis for Hislop drawing that conclusion, although it's far from conclusive.

Thank you so much - you've taught me something today. I so appreciate the effort you went to, to find it.

Tee M,

Actually, I CAN prove it. If you have the book The Two Babylons, please look on page 199 where Colonel Wilford is quoted. The second part of your quotation about "the indisputable sign of Tammuz", was written by Hislop at the bottom of page 204 and the top of page 205.

I'm not trying to mislead you....most roads lead back to Hislop when you start looking for information about the pagan origins of the cross.

TeeM,

Then you know that the quotation from Wilford didn't mention Tammuz.

I just noticed you said Hislop (1916).

Maybe that's the edition you have. The Two Babylons was first published as a pamphlet in 1853. Hislop was dead long before 1916, to my understanding.

keiichi

Great research! One thing in particular I didn't know. More questions later.

But back to topic, which is: Was the cross REALLY a symbol of Tammuz?

Thanks to Tee M, I'm revising my opinion of that from a 1 (very unlikely) to a 5 (a possibility). Still that's quite a ways from a 10 (a sure thing.)

Although we know there is at least one ancient carving of Tammuz holding a cross-shaped item, we don't know what it's supposed to represent. Is it his initial? A sword? Is it a representation of a tree? Was this object confined to its association with Tammuz? Can we assume it's his symbol? If someone should look at a Buffalo nickel coin and on the other side, read "In God we Trust", can we assume that the buffalo was the symbol of the god of the Americans?

In a previous Best Answer, it was stated as a fact that the cross was Tammuz' symbol. Could we agree to say that it's POSSIBLE , but not a sure thing, that the cross was a symbol of Tammuz?

misskitty

Thanks for answering. Most of your answer has been covered.

In reference to Wm Vine's statements:

In reading Mr. Vine's Expository, he indicates elsewhere his belief that Jesus died on a cross. His comments about Tammuz seem to indicate that he believed that the t with the crossbar lowered, rather than a T, was adopted as the 'cross of Christ'.

Thanks to TeeM, we know that it was a t with a lowered crossbar that was associated with Tammuz. But Mr. Vine nor anyone else that I know of has provided any direct evidence to connect Christianity's cross to the cross of Tammuz. I'm not saying such evidence doesn't exist, but I'm not aware of any and I've tried hard to find some.

Such evidence would have to be found in the history of the early church, not in pre-Christian pagan history. And it must be found BEFORE the time of Constantine since Christians believed Jesus died on a cross before Constantine's birth.
(Letter of Barnabas, Justin Martyr, Felix).

Answer 1

As you said 'your opinion'. That and $5 can buy you a cup of coffee at a famous coffee shop.

yes a X may look like a T, depending on how quick you write it, and from what angle you are looking at it.

But they are still different letters.

Try writing Xhanks or eTra and what word do you get?

So the answer to your question is that Jehovah did not what his people marked with a T but with a X.

Edit -

In Hebrew ='The [god] Tammuz' is written as 'hat-Tammuz' Thus a T. (Similiar in Greek and Phoenician)

My 'American Heritage Dictionary' shows a picture of a Tau cross as a 'T'

I haven't found a Babylonian letter for the taw but at Ez 8:14

Jewish women would have used a 'T' for Tammuz and not a X.

I hope this helps. (check out large print NWT with footnotes)

Edit 2

try this:

[ת]. TAW

The 22nd and last letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The name of the letter literally means “mark.” (Compare Eze 9:4, ftn.) In the Hebrew, it is the initial letter in each of the eight verses of Psalm 119:169-176.

(Tamm′uz).

A deity over whom apostate Hebrew women in Jerusalem were seen weeping in the sixth year of the prophet Ezekiel’s exile (612 B.C.E.).—Eze 8:1, 3, 14.

Regarding the identification of Tammuz, D. Wolkstein and S. N. Kramer remarked: “There were quite a number of ‘dying gods’ in ancient Sumer, but the best known is Dumuzi, the biblical Tammuz, whom the women of Jerusalem were still mourning in the days of the prophet Ezekiel. Originally, the god Dumuzi was a mortal Sumerian ruler, whose life and death had made a profound impression on the Sumerian thinkers and mythographers.” (Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth, New York, 1983, p. 124) In addition, O. R. Gurney wrote: “Dumuzi was originally a man, a king of Erech . . . The humanity of Dumuzi is, moreover, confirmed by the mythological passage in which he says to Inanna ‘I will lead you to the house of my god’. This is not the way in which a god would speak.”—Journal of Semitic Studies, Vol. 7, 1962, pp. 150-152.


“The cross,” says Colonel Wilford, in the Asiatic Researches, “though not an object of worship among the Baud’has or Buddhists, is a favourite emblem and device among them. . . . [in Christendom] the Tau, the sign of the cross, the indisputable sign of Tammuz, the false Messiah,

The “Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words” is more specific, saying that the cross “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).”

“The shape of the [two-beamed cross] 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. 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. Hence the Tau or T, in its most frequent form, with the cross-piece lowered, was adopted to stand for the cross of Christ.”—An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (London, 1962), W. E. Vine, p. 256.

“It is strange, yet unquestionably a fact, that in ages long before the birth of Christ, and since then in lands untouched by the teaching of the Church, the Cross has been used as a sacred symbol. . . . The Greek Bacchus, the Tyrian Tammuz, the Chaldean Bel, and the Norse Odin, were all symbolised to their votaries by a cruciform device.”—The Cross in Ritual, Architecture, and Art (London, 1900), G. S. Tyack, p. 1.

edit -- again

Check out this picture at this site:

http://www.answers.com/topic/tammuz

You will notice 3 'T' s with the cross beam toward the top.

c. 1500

I think it's interesting that 3 -4 different sources, I shared, say the same thing.

Yes it is possible that they are using the same source material, but that in itself doesn't make the statements true or false.

The other possiblity is that they are referencing different sources, that agree with each other.

edit -3

Where did I quote Hislop? I think you will find I included the references for my quotes. If I missed one please let me know.

Neither one of us can prove those references did or did not quote Hislop, unless you know something I don't.


edit 4

I inherited a copy of 2 Babylons.

I can agree about pages 204 & 205,

but on page 199 Hislop (1916) is quoting Col. Wilford (1801 ?)
.

Answer 2

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RE:
Was the cross REALLY a symbol of Tammuz? Question for Jehovah's Witnesses and others?
Repeatedly on YA, I read that the "taw"or cross was orginally the symbol of Tammuz. I know that this idea came from Rev Hislop who wrote The Two Babylons. But he doesn't put forth any evidence in his book to directly connect Tammuz with the cross, except that Tammuz begins with the...

Answer 3

Tammuz Cross

Answer 4

1. It was not merely a letter or a character, but the WORSHIPFUL USE OF the tau (or taw) symbol which reference works assert was associated with Tammuz.
2. Jehovah's purposes can never be thwarted by man or demon (or false god).
(Deuteronomy 32:4) The Rock, perfect is his activity
(2 Samuel 22:31) As for the true God, perfect is his way


It has been nearly 20 years since Jehovah's Witness publications quoted Hislop on any matter. In connection with Tammuz, Witness publications have not quoted Hislop since 1972. Vine's "Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words" also discusses this matter, but Jehovah's Witnesses have not quoted that work in connection with Tammuz in more than 25 years. At this time, that seems interesting but inconclusive regarding the position of the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses in this matter.

Since the ancient tau was shaped like an "x" it was sometimes used synonymously to refer to any mark, such as one might make next to an item of interest within a column of many items. Just because the tau was used in pagan worship doesn't mean that true worshippers (in Ezekiel's day or the Christian era) would be compelled to superstitiously avoid the use of the letter altogether.

However, it seems clear that the worshipful use of any object displeases God and Christ. The bible plainly forbids idolatry of any kind, including the worshipful use of icons such as crucifixes.
http://watchtower.org/bible/1jo/chapter_005.htm?bk=1jo;chp=5;vs=21;citation#bk21
http://www.watchtower.org/bible/ac/chapter_017.htm?bk=ac;chp=17;vs=29;citation#bk29

(1 John 5:21) Guard yourselves from idols.

(Acts 17:29) We ought not to imagine that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, like something sculptured by the art and contrivance of man


The exact shape of Christ's instrument of death is hardly a central doctrine of the faith, but Jehovah's Witnesses do happen to believe that Jesus was almost certainly impaled on a simple stake, rather than a cross of two intersecting beams. Of course the Romans had the ability to create a cross, and probably did. But ask yourself: why they would have bothered when a simple stake would have worked just as well or better?

The bible most assuredly does NOT offer any proof that the stake was actually a cross of two intersecting beams. The actual facts of the bible may be enlightening to examine...

You may be interested to see how your own copy of the bible translates Acts 5:30, Galatians 3:13, Deuteronomy 21:22, 23, and Acts 10:39. The King James, Revised Standard, Dyaglott, and Jerusalem Bible translate the instrument of Christ's death simply as "stake" or "tree" because the original wording simply does not support the idea that this was more than a piece of upright wood.

It is also eye-opening to examine how the first-century Christians felt about idols of any kind, much less one that glorified an instrument of death.

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/200604a/article_01.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/20050508a/article_01.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/rq/index.htm?article=article_11.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/19960715/article_01.htm

Answer 5

The Hebrew Tav:

Written in Aramaic it is an “n”.

Written in Paleo-Hebrew it is a “x”

When you pronounce the letter it sounds like a “t”.

The Phoenician alphabet is a continuation of the Proto-Canaanite alphabet, by convention taken to begin with a cut-off date of 1050 BC. It was used by the Phoenicians to write Phoenician, a Northern Semitic language.

The Paleo-Hebrew alphabet, used to write early Hebrew, is nearly identical to the Phoenician one. The Samaritan alphabet, used by the Samaritans, is a version of the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet.

The last letter of the Alphabet is "tau".

The symbolism of the cross was connected not only to the letter chi, but also to tau, the equivalent of the last letter in the Phoenician and Old Hebrew alphabets, and which was originally cruciform in shape.

Various letters have alternative representations: e.g. the taw can be written more like a '+' than like a 'x'.

So it unknown which writting they used for the sacred initial, either "+" or "x".

Now jump into the future, to the time of the romans who used latin instead of hebrew.

The Latin letter X derives from a western Greek pronunciation of chi.

Note: The labarum was a military standard which displayed the first two Greek letters of the word Christ ( Greek : ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ or Χριστός ) — Chi (χ) and Rho, (ρ). It was first used by the Roman emperor Constantine I. It was thought the vision he saw was the Greek letters Chi and Rho intertwined.

http://www.crosscrucifix.com/constansae34-250261.jpg

The letter chi, (X), the initial of the word Christ (Xp), was originally used for His Name. This was superseded by symbols (X with p on top) and (+ with p on top), and even the first of these had four equal arms.

These crosses were used as symbols of the Babylonian sun-god,(+ in a o) ,

http://www.considerthis.net/images/image5.gif

and are first seen on a coin of Julius Cæsar, 100 - 44 B.C., and then on a coin struck by Cæsar's heir (Augustus), 20 B.C.4

On the coins of Constantine the most frequent symbol is (+ with p on top);

http://www.constantinethegreatcoins.com/symbols/arles381.jpeg

but the same symbol is used without the surrounding circle, and with the four equal arms vertical and horizontal; and this was the symbol specially venerated as the "Solar Wheel". It should be stated that Constantine was a sun-god worshipper.

http://www.constantinethegreatcoins.com/symbols/tic43.jpeg

Latin on coin: SOLI INVI-C-TO COMITI [In honor of the unconquered Sun (god), the companion of the Emperor]

The account in the bible:

"Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and one on the left." Matt. 27 :38, See also Luke 23: 33; Mark 15: 27; John 19: 18.

"....Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs; But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water." John 19: 32-34.

Since there was with Yahshua two thieves, "one on the right hand, and one on the left," why would the soldiers "skip over" Yahshua to break the legs of the second thief instead of coming to Yahshua, who was in the middle, and would have been next in line?

The "logical" answer is that they were all hanging on the same "pale, stake, or tree." The soldiers were simply walking around it, coming to Yahshua last.

Cursed [is] everyone having been hung on a tree.’ (Galatians 3:13)

Constantine's ' Latin cross' ? Latin lexicons show that the earlier meanings of crux as being a tree, frame, or other wooden instrument of execution. IF it was the traditionally represented cross, later called the "Latin cross." There is no devotional or symbolic use of this type of cross among the early Nazarene community until after the 4th century CE began.

Answer 6

(1)TAW - [ת].
The 22nd and last letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The name of the letter literally means “mark.” (Compare Eze 9:4, ftn.) In the Hebrew, it is the initial letter in each of the eight verses of Psalm 119:169-176.

(2) As described at Ezekiel 9:3-6, a class of persons are marked in their forehead for protection from destruction by God’s executional forces, not being marked by angels in this instance, nor with a “seal,” but by a man who has “a secretary’s inkhorn.” Pictured as “sighing and groaning over all the detestable things that are being done,” these, when ‘marked,’ show themselves to be slaves and devotees of Jehovah; their actions, practices, and personalities evidently give evidence of this before all, as if written ‘on their foreheads.’



What were the historical origins of Christendom’s cross?
“Various objects, dating from periods long anterior to the Christian era, have been found, marked with crosses of different designs, in almost every part of the old world. India, Syria, Persia and Egypt have all yielded numberless examples . . . The use of the cross as a religious symbol in pre-Christian times and among non-Christian peoples may probably be regarded as almost universal, and in very many cases it was connected with some form of nature worship.”—Encyclopædia Britannica (1946), Vol. 6, p. 753.
“The shape of the [two-beamed cross] 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. 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. Hence the Tau or T, in its most frequent form, with the cross-piece lowered, was adopted to stand for the cross of Christ.”—An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (London, 1962), W. E. Vine, p. 256.
“It is strange, yet unquestionably a fact, that in ages long before the birth of Christ, and since then in lands untouched by the teaching of the Church, the Cross has been used as a sacred symbol. . . . The Greek Bacchus, the Tyrian Tammuz, the Chaldean Bel, and the Norse Odin, were all symbolised to their votaries by a cruciform device.”—The Cross in Ritual, Architecture, and Art (London, 1900), G. S. Tyack, p. 1.
“The cross in the form of the ‘Crux Ansata’ . . . was carried in the hands of the Egyptian priests and Pontiff kings as the symbol of their authority as priests of the Sun god and was called ‘the Sign of Life.’”—The Worship of the Dead (London, 1904), Colonel J. Garnier, p. 226.
“Various figures of crosses are found everywhere on Egyptian monuments and tombs, and are considered by many authorities as symbolical either of the phallus [a representation of the male sex organ] or of coition. . . . In Egyptian tombs the crux ansata [cross with a circle or handle on top] is found side by side with the phallus.”—A Short History of Sex-Worship (London, 1940), H. Cutner, pp. 16, 17; see also The Non-Christian Cross, p. 183.
“These crosses were used as symbols of the Babylonian sun-god, [See book], and are first seen on a coin of Julius Cæsar, 100-44 B.C., and then on a coin struck by Cæsar’s heir (Augustus), 20 B.C. On the coins of Constantine the most frequent symbol is [See book]; but the same symbol is used without the surrounding circle, and with the four equal arms vertical and horizontal; and this was the symbol specially venerated as the ‘Solar Wheel’. It should be stated that Constantine was a sun-god worshipper, and would not enter the ‘Church’ till some quarter of a century after the legend of his having seen such a cross in the heavens.”—The Companion Bible, Appendix No. 162; see also The Non-Christian Cross, pp. 133-141.

Answer 7

We consider the cross a false idol and would have nothing to do with it. We know through accurate Bible translation that our King Jesus Christ died on a stake, not the cross that christendom came up with. Besides, if someone you loved was shot and killed, would you hang the gun up on your wall for display? Or a Miniature size of it around your neck and worship it? I don't think so!

Answer 8

And the letter O was once representative of the sun.

I'm not a Christian, but these are really non-related things.

Answer 9

This kind of enquiry can show up a spiritual form of compulsive obsessive disorder. The more frantic a person becomes about the possibility of becoming spiritually 'diseased', the more desperate their attempts at warding off evil signs and practices. They start looking for the slightest hint of 'contamination'. They start identifying anything and everything as "of the Devil". Really, they do the Devil too much honor!

You can bet your last dollar that the old deceiver has his counterfeit productions with everything that is of God. But God, in his wisdom, has not charged us with classifying every detail of devilry in the world. He simply asks us to consider Christ, and to GLORY in the cross of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation (1 Cor 1:17,18 Gal 6:14). The shape of the cross, and any real or imagined correspondence to letters of ancient languages is neither here nor there.

Continually, JWs only read the smattering of info about Hislop's "Two Babylons" as contained in their Society's literature, and take its explanations as gospel. I have yet to meet a JW who has read the book for himself. Hislop, in his enthusiasm to expose Roman Catholicism as the "scarlet woman" of Revelation, wrote about RC similarities to pagan beliefs/practices (of which there are more than a few). He did this in order to make a clear divide between RC beliefs/practices and what the Bible says about Christ and God. The cross, and the Trinity doctrine are not attacked as such by Hislop. All his ammunition is fired at RC compromise with paganism. That's why the Watchtower Society used to quote him. They've stopped doing that, I believe. Why? Because the cat is out of the bag. Hislop can no longer be used to attack the biblical doctrines of the cross and the Trinity!

Answer 10

Agreed that they are unrelated.

The Tammuz symbol was more of a "t" or a "T" shape.

The Hebrew "taw" was more of an "X" which really is a common way to mark things.