Brittany Dawn Needs To Be Transparent
Brittany Dawn is a typical flavor of American Christianity, harmless enough at first glance but the right-leaning-Starbucks-loving-persecution-complex-cherry-picked Bible verses-pro-life-at-the-expense-of-everything-else-the-Bible-condemns type. She was also caught scamming thousands of people out of money with fake, or non-existent, work-out plans, then failed to refund those people or only partially did so (1 Timothy 6:10).
Rather than apologize, she posted about goat yoga and took a two week hiatus only to come back with a tan-line.
Now, she’s rebranded as a full-time Christian influencer because it’s an easy market.
Forgiveness is indeed tantamount to the gospel and we shouldn’t hold someone’s past against them if they’ve repented. However, repentance is two parts: confession meaning an acknowledgement of wrong, and turning away from that sin, meaning no longer repeating it.
The Bible says much about those who use religion for their own gain, “[o]n that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers'” (Matthew 7:21-23). Also, “Beware of the false prophets, [teachers] who come to you dressed as sheep [appearing gentle and innocent], but inwardly are ravenous wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them [that is, by their contrived doctrine and self-focus]. (v 15-16 AMP). Not to mention the Old Testament where God just straight up blitzed false prophets.
To me, a fellow Christian, Brittany Dawn’s whole Christian-schtick seems like a cash-grab.
Of course, only God knows her heart but after following her for a while, I find her mad sus. Christians are pretty dumb. Not in terms of intelligence, but in terms of the ability to think critically for themselves, which makes them an easy market for those who talk the talk. Most Christians want someone else to tell them how to live, rather than take the time to seek the Lord’s will for their own lives.
Anyway, here’s why I find Ms. Dawn sus.
1. She doesn’t appear to have actually apologized for scamming individuals
Her apology video could be summed up as, “leave me along guyz, I made a mistake. I’m not the girl I was 1 week ago, sorry if you felt scammed.” Girl, nobody needs a diagram telling them how not to scam. Furthermore, the video was self-focused, blaming her environment, etc. Little thought as to how those scammed out of their money felt. Even on Instagram, I didn’t find anything like, “My actions were wrong and I take full responsibility for what I did by issuing refunds and I promise to do better in the future.” What I did find was that apparently she went to Hawaii.
Part of repentance is acknowledging you’ve done something wrong, so the fact that bare minimum she couldn’t even apologize indirectly on a public platform without playing 20 excuses says a lot.
2. She seems to be up to her old acts again.
Selling an overpriced devotional?
Check.
(possibly) Getting a $20,000 PPP loan despite not having a business, nor doing anything to prevent the spread of covid (avoiding large crowds, wearing a mask, using her platform to encourage people to do the same)?
https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/bailouts/loans/brittany-dawn-greisen-4194747304
Check?
Starting a Go Fund Me for a homeless man under her fiancé’s name (because she was banned from using the platform) in which she admits the money is going to change her life.
Checkmate.
Freudian slip? Who knows – however, the money rasied is more than enough to send this man to rehab, or set him up with an apartment, new car, and help him get a job. But she has yet to clarify or show what exactly is going to be done with those funds.
Given her history, this lack of transparency is alarming. As Christians, we should be the most transparent so that we’re above reproach (Titus 1:7).
3. Her maybe live-in fiancé, Jordan, has some troubling allegations
She’s not responsible for his actions, but the Bible says, “abstain from all appearance of evil,” (1 Thessalonians 5:22), therefore if your fiancé is being accused of violence (not Christ-like) and people are bringing that up, it’s appropriate to address it especially if your public platform centers around encouraging others to live Godlier lives. Doesn’t even have to be in depth beyond, “yeah, Jordan use to be a jerk, what he did back then was wrong, he’s changed, guyz.” Becoming a Christian doesn’t mean you’re perfect. Peter cut a whole ear off and this was after literally walking with Jesus for a long time.
The Bible warns about those “…having the appearance of Godliness…” (2 Tim 7: 5), but not actually being Godly and says to avoid such people. And again, leaders are to be above reproach – if she is going to have such a public ministry, answering q&as and teaching others, she needs to be transparent when people bring up things that contradict the very Biblical values she claims to adhere to.
Furthermore, she says they don’t live together but apparently her man has a closet of clothes in her house and she posted this:
Whatever skill sets he has, if your fiancé doesn’t live with you, literally how does this help you if someone breaks into your house in the dead of night? Sounds to me like they are living together, which who cares? But like just own up to it.
4. She appears to have hypocritical modesty standards
She has 2 videos talking about modesty. Then she posts this:
Not to mention having an entire video talking about how to be modest and cute. While she nailed the cute part, the outfits she wears aren’t considered modest in most Christian circles.
5. She’s part of the getting outraged over things God doesn’t care about culture
Slothicus 4:20, “And thou shalt boycott Nike for using human blood and pentagrameths in their shoeseth.” Amen.
A few seconds of research (which is not many a conservatives strong-point) would have revealed that Nike had nothing to do with the shoes (something she later admits, but again… how about we as Christians set a standard of excellence (Titus 2:7-8) by bare minimum fact-checking something before making assumptions?).
Second, what she should be boycotting Nike over is the fact they probably still use sweatshops and are generally shady about their workers rights. Read Ezekiel and pay attention to how many times God mentions exploitation of the poor and paying unfair wages as one of many reasons He was big mad at Israel and giving them over to their enemies.
As Christians, particularly if ones hold a public ministry, we should do everything in a manner of excellence (1 Peter 2:12). That includes Googling something.
6. She brags about helping others, which the Bible explicitly says not to do
Ironically, it seems like Brittany Dawn should read the first part of Matthew 6.
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6: 1-4 ESV)
She could have simply linked the Go Fund Me without all the exploitative mess. But of course, how will people know she brought a homeless man spoons and coloring books if she didn’t post about it?
To conclude, too many Christian influencers love the appearance of Godliness but not true Godliness; pointing out the sins of “the world”, but when called out on their own sins (sexism, exploitation of the poor, racism, rampant sexual abuse going in the church), use Jesus as an excuse a la God uses flawed, broken people. However, there is no hierarchy of sin and all sins should be called out equally, or not at all. Otherwise, it’s Biblical Clownery.
When Christians walk in vanity, greed, pride, anger, ignore injustice, hate their neighbors, slander and gossip one another, etc. and then judge the “secular” world, it weakens the message of Christ. It’s not persecution to be called out on your hypocrisy – that’s why the Bible says, “not many of you should become teachers… for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness (James 3: 1-12, ESV), and that “… if anyone aspires to be office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore, an overseer must be above reproach… Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil. (1 Timothy 3: 1-7). If you want to teach Biblical values, you should be above reproach and well-thought of by outsiders.
Once quick Google search of Brittany Dawn reveals she’s neither.
Again, only God truly knows Brittany Dawn’s heart but her lack of transparency surrounding her scamming incident, among others things, waves a few red flags in terms of her sincerity now. The church of all places should be the most transparent about its’ shortcomings, because no one is perfect and God doesn’t expect us to be. Yet, when we tolerate those who use Christianity for their own gain, it weakens the message of Jesus and makes us who represent Christ look fake.
ARayOfDawn 