Did children really play at mourning?

Do you happen to know of any references, preferably from the seven authenticated letters of Paul which can be used to support/confirm the consensus dates of 35 to 56 for Paul?
 
Isn't there a non canonical gospel that has a transfiguration like scene that actually is a resurrection appearance? And bwhy do some think the canonical transfiguration story was originally a post resurrection appearance?  

I recently reread the Infancy Gospel of Thomas.   I can understand how stories of the young Jesus could come about but why in the world would someone that was a Christian of any stripe go to the trouble of writing something that makes kid Jesus look like a brat?  I mean this thing reminds me of the Twilight Zone "It's a Good Life".  

Re the NRSV, aside from the absurd inclusive language thing do you have any other problems with it? 

Why do mainstream scholars say that 1 Thess. was written around 50CE? 

I'm curious as to what the apologetics are regarding badly answered prayers.

John 4:22 says the Samaritans worship what they do not know, while the Jews worship what they do know. What do we think the authors trying to say about Samaritan beliefs exactly?  Is that believed to be historically accurate, or a mischaracterization of 1st/2nd-century CE Samaritanism?

Can you explain exactly which components of rapture theology are identifiable in the Bible using historically appropriate hermeneutics, and which components are truly "not in the Bible"?