Defining Christianity

For those of you such as Kandy, who believe that Christ's teachings and Paul's teachings compliment (complement?) each other, or Bernie, who stated that "Paul says absolutely nothing against what our Great Lord taught", do you then feel that all of the statements from the theologians and Biblical scholars below were wrong? When looking at the chart in the link, (www.essene.org/Yahowshua_or_Paul.htm) regarding women, slavery, eating meat, etc., I'm having a real tough time understanding how at least some of Paul's teachings were not in direct opposition to those of Jesus.

Mike S., Frank, anyone, can you shed some light on this?

I have had some questions about how Christianity is being practiced today (and not just about eating or not eating meat) and, from a quick search online, it looks like I'm not alone. If Jesus had certain teachings, then shouldn't we Christians be following those instead of whatever evolved and was built on His foundation because of politics, one's personal interests, etc.? Believe it or not, I also have had a feeling for awhile that the major world religions may not be as different from each other as they sometimes appear to be. (I don't expect everyone to agree.)

Bible scholars and history buffs, please help me here (as I do my own research--about Essenes, Ebionites, and/or whatever I can find about true "Jesus" Christianity--in the meantime). It took me 50+ years to really listen and respond to those little nudges about not eating meat, and there are other things that I still question.

Betty