Ok... I see linda is going to skate this question so I appreciate the sincere response Pwwca.

But... if Jesus never really existed why is he mentioned, ever so briefly in roman history? why is he mentioned for instance, if I remember correctly, in writings by someone named 'Pontius Pilate' who actually seems to have lived and left a bit of record to roman history? Of course Julius Caeser is written about quite a bit more, he was Caeser after all so he is written about more than anyone of the era.

What about the apostles though... John, Mark, James, Paul... Peter? None of them existed either or were the tales they told simply complete nonsense from the get go? Did they get together and conspire these stories?

The cross is a very old symbol I agree. I think the Christians picked it up not because of it's prior signifigance to other cultures or religions (keep in mind that life was different then, the world much much smaller in an informational sense) but to symbolize the cross Jesus was crucified on and also to symbolize the crosses they were being crucified on. Crucifixion was one of the ways the romans killed slaves. saying christians 'plagiarized' it is like saying mathematics plagiarized it. It's one of the most common geometric symbols, like a circle, square, triangle, or simply, a line.