In the Watchtower magazine on page 7 it is claimed in postings on this site that there is the image of a cross in some artwork.
I'm holding a Watchtower magazine (4/1/02) and on page 7, upper-right, is the Tetragrammaton. This is a good "control" image to compare in scans that might appear on the Internet because it is too faint to reliably reproduce with a high-resolution scanner. The background is faint yellow, and the Tetragrammaton itself is white (the same white as the page itself). The caption reads: "Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified . . ."
Under the Tetragrammaton is a picture of an older man who is either representing Christ ruling in Heaven or his Father, Jehovah. I think the artwork might represent Jehovah and not Christ because there is a facsimile of the Tetragrammaton -- not the cross -- on his crown. The caption above the picture continues with where the caption of the picture above it left off, "Let your [Messianic] kingdom come . . ." However, the picture could represent Christ on the throne his Father, Jehovah, gave to his Son, and the Tetragrammaton on the crown could represent the Name by whose authority Christ acts.
In any event, I have looked at this image for several minutes using a large reading magnifier under bright light. At first glance -- but only for a few seconds -- the image looks like a cross but immediately becomes apparent it is NOT A CROSS because what initially looks like the crossbeam bends down on each side like the wings of a dove. This image is also white like the paper of the page itself, just like the Tetragrammaton above it is white. Looking up and down and comparing the tiny image to the large Tetragrammaton in the picture above it, makes it apparent the white image in the crown of the man on the throne is a FACSIMILE or tiny abstract of the Tetragrammaton.
One would have to be extremely dishonest with themselves and others to claim otherwise after a careful examination of this artwork.
I can see how a powerful image scan might make this reverse-type image (white typeface) appear like a cross.
REMEMBER THE "CONTROL" IMAGE ABOVE IT. Only a scan of both images -- the Tetragrammaton and the image of the man on throne wearing a crown -- will clearly show the similarity. Having done many image scans, I know how you can adjust the resolution until certain parts of the image disappear. In this case, if the "wings" that bend downward from the tips of what initially appears as a "crossbeam" of a cross were to disappear in an image scan, what is left is the illusion of a cross in the scan.
I highly recommend getting the latest Watchtower magazine if at all in doubt, and examine the crown yourself with a magnifier under bright light. Then report back to this board with your honest findings. It won't help to lie because anyone can enter a Kingdom Hall before a meeting, ask where the Literature Counter is, go to it and request the April 1, 2002 Watchtower magazine. You don't have to be baptized to obtain literature in this manner.
As always, appalled at the lengths anti-JW propaganda will go to discredit them when there are so many bonafide reasons to criticize them!
But then again, if you honestly criticize them, you leave open the chance a healing will take place. In order to permanently maim and destroy leaving no avenue for redemption and reform, one must totally butcher the subject often with hyperbolous propaganda that "sticks" with the intended audience. What a shame so many don't want to cure the "patient" (in this case Jehovah's Witnesses), but insist on pronouncing his "disease" as "incurable" to justify "putting him out of his misery to protect others from his disease." In this particular case, to extend the metaphor, I fear the "disease" is really belief in God, and "killing the patient" is intended to stop the spreading of this "disease" or belief in God by well-intentioned atheists. This propaganda is one of many attempts to demoralize the JW subjects with a persistent belief in God; one must really twist the facts enough to show JWs intent is "evil" and not simply "misguided" if one hopes to hit the intended paydirt: faith in God.
Derrick
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.
-- William Blake (Auguries of Innocence)