Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!iuvax!purdue!gatech!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!geneva.rutgers.edu!christian From: lisa@mips.com (Lisa Smith) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: David Hume and the Fish Message-ID: Date: 31 Jul 89 02:00:27 GMT Sender: hedrick@geneva.rutgers.edu Organization: MIPS Computer Systems, Sunnyvale, CA Lines: 21 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article muttiah@cs.purdue.edu (Ranjan Samuel Muttiah) writes: > >Why did the Greeks call Jesus Ichtus (sp ?) (fish)? > >[ichthus is an acrostic in Greek. It is the initial letters of Ieous >Christos, Theou Uios, Soter (more or less -- I don't guarantee that I >got the spelling right). --clh] Unless I am mistaken, the fish sign for Jesus Christ was first used by early Christians during the time of persecution. They were imprisoned, and figured out that they could make an acrostic of the word "ichthus." By drawing a fish, they could let other Christians know who they were, and find other Christians without fear of persecution. I could be way off, but that's what I've heard. Of course, now you only see the fish on the back of cars (traveling witness)! Mike [I've heard this as well. As far as I know, it is purely speculation. Anybody have hard evidence? --clh]