What with more than 20 versions of the Bible in common use now, including the fascinating Lamsa version, we can wonder about questions surrounding everything from the nature of collections through the exigencies of translation to the near impossibility of an assured "correct" interpretation.* The King James version relied on thousands of differing texts, none original, to compile and interpret from the intellectual and pious standpoint of people who weren't there. And since there are about 300 major ecclesiastical traditions worldwide divisible as over 40,000 denominations,** it is difficult to imagine that any of them under these circumstances follow THE actual teachings of The Christ.
Those considerations point to modern christianism being some very modified version filtered through the 3rd-century politicization of Catholicism and then the Reformation. There is a very good argument that the *actual* Teachings were congruent with nondualism. In any case, Mark 4:33,34 casts grave reason to rely solely on the minute bit surviving as the compilation of the red letter versions of the Gospels, never mind the ruckus between Peter and Paul. All this, especially the passage from Mark, legitimately leaves one to wonder what christianism today might actually be.
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* A fascinating book, often used in comparative religious studies, treats extensively of these questions in an easily understandable style and yet has all pertinent scholarly references. It has the unfortunate title of "Insights for the Age of Aquarius: a handbook for religious sanity", that being a moniker sure to be off-putting to some. That is unfortunate considering the actual practical value of its contents. The author is Gina Cerminara.
** The Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary estimated 34,000 denominations in 2000, rising to an estimated 43,000 in 2012. These numbers have exploded from 1,600 in the year 1900.
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