Why do Jehovah Witnesses think that the cross doesn't have hands? They said that the original cross is just a torture stake.

Why do they think that way? Not that I think they're wrong. I am just wondering.
The Jehovah's Witness use of the word stake instead of cross is based on scholarly examination of the original Greek manuscripts.

Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words:


  "stauros denotes, primarily, 'an upright pale or stake.'...Both the noun and the verb stauroo, 'to fasten to a stake or pale,' are originally to be distinguished from the ecclesiastical form of a two beamed 'cross.'"


Oxford University’s Companion Bible says: 


  "The evidence is...that the Lord was put to death upon an upright stake, and not on two pieces of timber placed at any angle."


History shows that the cross is a pagan symbol that predates Christianity, but that the churches allowed its adoption in order to facilitate conversion of pagans. Witnesses reject the cross as a tradition that does not have a Biblical basis.