You asked:

"Is the cross a tau symbol?"

The tau is a letter of the Greek alphabet, that is at times related to Tammuz, as I have shown in this series. This cross shaped letter can symbolize pagan deities, but the cross is not always to be understood in this way. We must always view a symbol in its context.

If you combine the cross with an image of the Sun, as is seen in a Celtic cross, or a solar cross, this often denotes Tammuz, who was depicted as the Sun god reborn.

Yahshua, the Son of God, is also very genuinely associated with the symbol of the cross, without any pagan associations. Of course, we know He was crucified, but there are other links to this symbol.

In Revelation we read of Christ stating, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end." This is actually translated from a Greek version of the book of Revelation, for Christ, and John to whom He was speaking, were Hebrews and there is much evidence that a large portion of the New Testament was originally written in Hebrew and later translated to Greek.

In the Hebrew, Christ would have actually said, (Anglicized, of course) "I am the Aleph and the Tav." These are the first and last characters of the Hebrew Alphabet (Aleph-Bet).

In the most ancient Hebrew, the Paleo-Hebrew, each letter was a pictogram. The Aleph was drawn as an ox head. The Tav was drawn as a cross. Christ was literally the sacrificial animal slain for mankind. So we see that the Tav, which is the shape of a cross, is Scripturally given as one symbol to depict Christ.

So, I would answer that the cross is at times used to denote a pagan deity, but it is also used legitimately, in a holy sense, as a symbol of Christ.

We have those who try one extreme or another, but then we also have those who will try to do the will of the Father in most things, but there is that one or two things they refuse. They may swim forward for a bit, but that lack of faith/trust/giving over of self defeats what little progress they have. They are swimming in place. (Reminds me of neither hot nor cold…)