Helorum = Matthew Brown?

[_Mike Reed]

I've gone a few rounds with Helorum at Madb, over arguments that Matthew B. Brown has made in print. Helorum has been trying desperately to defend Brown's position. http://www.mormonapologetics.org/index. ... 1208412911
I did a search of his name, and I discovered that Helorum has announced updates of his own website (http://josephsmithstudies.com) which is elsewhere attributed to Matthew B. Brown on the internet:
http://deseretbook.com/store/reviews?sku=4913005
http://www.mormonapologetics.org/index. ... ntry314780

[_LifeOnaPlate]

The Deseret Book link has a review written with the http://josephsmithstudies.com site. Did Matthew Brown write his own review?

[_Mike Reed]

The Deseret Book link has a review written with the http://josephsmithstudies.com site. Did Matthew Brown write his own review?

The review is as follows:
This book will be a delight for those who are looking for a readable and uplifting biography on the Prophet Joseph Smith. The text is well written and informative. A "must-have" for Latter-day Saints. The author [Brown] has also produced a website for those who are interested in more information on this important subject.
http://josephsmithstudies.com\

As I read this... I don't think the reviewer was claiming that this was his own website. I think he/she was identifying it as Brown's.

[_LifeOnaPlate]

Yeah, I noticed about 5 sec. after I posted.

Interesting developments, indeed.

[_CaliforniaKid]

I've gone a few rounds with Helorum at Madb, over arguments that Matthew B. Brown has made in print. Helorum has been trying desperately to defend Brown's position. http://www.mormonapologetics.org/index. ... 1208412911
I did a search of his name, and I discovered that Helorum has announced updates of his own website (http://josephsmithstudies.com) which is elsewhere attributed to Matthew B. Brown on the internet:
http://deseretbook.com/store/reviews?sku=4913005
http://www.mormonapologetics.org/index. ... ntry314780

LOL. If one is going to defend one's work, it seems to me one should do it under one's own name. But hey, who am I to judge? This is the Internet. Ethics don't apply here. :-P

[_Mike Reed]

Yeah, I noticed about 5 sec. after I posted.

Interesting developments, indeed.

Several years ago (while I was still a TBM apologist for FAIR) I emailed Matthew B. Brown an example of a pentagram that I had found while searching through the library, of the inverted pentagram being used in a Latin Missal as the Bethlehem star. Not long afterwards, I met Brown at a FAIR conference and started talking about the Christian use of the pentagram. In a somewhat hushed voice, he pulled me aside and said that he had something to show me. He said that he had found a BEAUTIFUL example of a pentagram being used by Christians... and he pulled out an envelope. What image did he have in it??? You guessed it! THE ONE THAT I HAD TOLD HIM ABOUT IN THE EMAIL!!! My best friend (who was attending the conference with me) was there too. We had quite the laugh about it during our drive home.

[Hawkeye]

LOL. If one is going to defend one's work, it seems to me one should do it under one's own name. But hey, who am I to judge? This is the Internet. Ethics don't apply here. :-P

The guy is a fruitcake. Now I am debating with myself about whether or not I should post these links and ask him point-blank if he is Matthew Brown.

[_Mike Reed]

Yeah, I noticed about 5 sec. after I posted.

Interesting developments, indeed.

:) Yeah... I also misread the review the first time I saw it.

[_CaliforniaKid]

Several years ago (while I was still a TBM apologist for FAIR) I emailed Matthew B. Brown an example of a pentagram that I had found while searching through the library, of the inverted pentagram being used in a Latin Missal as the Bethlehem star. Not long afterwards, I met Brown at a FAIR conference and started talking about the Christian use of the pentagram. In a somewhat hushed voice, he pulled me aside and said that he had something to show me. He said that he had found a BEAUTIFUL example of a pentagram being used by Christians... and he pulled out an envelope. What image did he have in it??? You guessed it! THE ONE THAT I HAD TOLD HIM ABOUT IN THE EMAIL!!! My best friend (who was attending the conference with me) was there too. We had quite the laugh about it during our drive home.

LOL.

I haven't even studied the masonry-plagiarism issue, but I've run across it enough times with respect to other things I've researched (like facsimile 2 of the Book of Abraham) that there's really no doubt in my mind that Joseph Smith borrowed from the masons. I don't know how Brown can still be arguing that he didn't. Much better to just embrace it, in my opinion. At least then you don't end up making yourself (and apologists in general) look like idiots when you start hiding behind fake names and pointing out opponents' spelling errors in order to score a point.

[_CaliforniaKid]

LOL. If one is going to defend one's work, it seems to me one should do it under one's own name. But hey, who am I to judge? This is the Internet. Ethics don't apply here. :-P

The guy is a fruitcake. Now I am debating about whether or not I should post these links and ask him point-blank if he is Matthew Brown.

Did you notice that after Helorum posted his first post with all its plugs for Brown's work, another poster asked him about one of the books, thanked him for the insight, and then included a winking smiley-face? I think it's pretty obvious this is Brown. It's just a matter of whether you want to "out" him or not.