The cross as a marketing tool: It reminds me of the hilarious comedy routines of The 10,000 Year Old Man (Mel Brooks) reminiscing about the old days to reporter (Carl Reiner). He remembered Jesus and described the attractiveness of the cross ("Simple but elegant") and described how they were manufactured (It took two men. They each took a stick and rushed at each other, smashing together) and how it was so much of an improvement over the Star of David. To make those stars, six guys had to rush together. It required a lot of teamwork and when the timing was a little off, people would get hurt.

Now, back to reality, I believe that the symbol of the early Christians was a fish, perhaps for several hundred years. What I find interesting about that is that it is an intellectually derived symbol, a Greek acronymn which spelled the Greek word for fish. I have no doubt that there are Christians here who know the meaning of the acronym but I have forgotten the phrase, something like Icthys with the first two letters standing for Jesus Christ.

Sourdough