Could this really have happened?

nm, nazareth didn't exist as a town till 300-400ad
it seems the area was settled but there wasn't a town there named nazareth till after jesus died
even if there was the NT authors made up all the stuff about it
Nazareth - WikipediaEdited by ReverendDG, : No reason given.

It seems like your not reading it.He asks for REASONS why the stories are not plausible, and then gives one (talking about Samson only) I address this reason, which was a question "why did the Philistines let his hair grow back?" and show why, according to the story, that they let it grow back.So you'll have to find another reason.I am not saying if the story is true or not, just addressing the OP, correctly.It is important to understand the story, the way it is written. Doesn't make it true or untrue. Yes. Because if you read the thread, you wouldn't have mentioned that to me. Sounds like one to me also, but I won't completely dismiss it based on what I think it is. I am definately not smart, or as smart as I would like to be, I am but a mere speck in the universe, but at least I can understand why the Philistines let his hair grow back, after studying it a little bit.

From your link.

Great!Thanks, my autism doesn't allow these wee things to leap around. Brian.

Hi Bren, hope you are well. This claim for Jesus (AFAIK) is an apologetic for Matthew 2:23and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."Because there is no such prophecy, I have read many websites that say Jesus was a Nazirite and somehow think that the error disappears.They forget the qualifier in the passage. he will be called a Nazarene BECAUSE he lived in Nazareth. The prophecy in Matthew is fictional.Brian.

The problem regarding corpses in all of the commentaries that I have read is not with dead people.Judges 14:6The Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat.Contact with dead lion.Judges 14:8Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion's carcass. In it was a swarm of bees and some honey.Another dead lion.Judges 16:15Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men. Dead ass!These are the three most cited examples of coming into contact with corpses.But there is an explicit mention of his coming into contact with human corpses:Judges 14:19Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power. He went down to Ashkelon, struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of their belongings and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle.It is difficult to imagine him taking their clothes without toching their bodies.Brian.

or perhaps it is from a book that someone decided was not cool enough to be in the bible.

It's a possibility.But, with the author of Matthew's track record I think it is safe to conclude he made it up.Brian.

Well yah, since the Fall, duh. Before the Fall they were all like waaay smarter than Einstein! lfen

Hair follicle - WikipediaAnother question is whether Samson would have had any birth hair left. As he would have lost most of it, perhaps all of it through the normal cycle of the follicles going dormant and the hair being shed.lfen

yes, and this is why eve actually associated with that putz adam.this is an undemonstrable claim with no evidence anywhere. do refrain from this in the future.

I wasn't making a claim. It was a joking reference to those (not you) who blame everything on the Fall.lfen

ok just checking. i never know when i'm gonna catch that stuff.

I don't think Matthew has a track record of making up prophecies. You may think he has a track record of making up the fulfillment of the prophecies, but of making up the prophecies themselves? It seems unlikely. It seems much more likely that it's from some source we don't have.

as a side note, and i imagine we could make a thread of this, what do fundamentalists make of it when the bible refers to books that are not in the bible?