Many documents, such as the works of Shakespeare, have had histories of questions as to their textual consistency from one version to another. Questions have been raised as to which version is the ``original'' or ``true'' version, whether the accepted author is the true author, and whether these questions are meaningful on their own.
While this sort of debate is common regarding literature and historical documents, it is somewhat more taboo when discussing religious documents, such as the New Testament of the Bible. It becomes a particularly difficult issue in the case of religious documents which claim to be the infallible word of a god.
The question remains: How much variation exists in the texts of the New Testament?