Everyone is trying to understand why Manti Te'o would trust this person he had never seen. Why did he not question, doubt, wonder etc. when the signs were there that this girlfriend was a hoax?

What non-mormons don't grasp is that all one needs to do unlock a Mormon's heart and lower their logical defenses is to be another Mormon.

So I haven't heard this mentioned yet, but was "Lennay Kekua" a member who pretended a certain TBM'ness to gain his automatic trust?

I hope someone submits her name for temple work.

LMAO! Good one!

Anyone who believes Manti Te'o's weak story is a "member."

She was a fiction, but supposedly a Christian, prolly of the same stripe as Ronaiah and his family. Vangie Baptist, born again types, I believe...

In the deadspin article they post some pictures that were used for Lennay. One of them has the Los Angeles Temple as kind of a background for the photo. Seeing this I would assume she was supposed to be a member.

I think it is pathetic. Sad....did other LDS athletes have to pretend? Never heard of that before. Was he regretting he wasn't at BYU? The guy is a nut in my eyes. In part of his interview I think he was holding back laughter.

Wait, all a scam artist has to do is be a member, or even just fake being a member, and Mormons will be more prone to forking out cash? I hope no unethical people ever figure this out, it could cause a problem for Mormons. Luckily they have those nice, kind 15 old men looking out for their best interest.

According to Manti, she was some sort of generic Christian that was considering conversion to the Mormon faith. She had supposedly discussed a possible conversion over the phone with his mother (who was herself a convert.)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/2013 10:11AM by summer.

The faux-girlfriend was a generic christian considering becoming a mormon? That explains a lot. One theme of Manti's Katie Couric interview was that he thought he was "helping" Lennay by being her boyfriend. As mormons we know no better way to help someone than to make them one of us. Especially someone who has forgone a mission for athletic pursuits and could have imagined the conversion of Lennay Kekua as a way to make up for that.

Just spit-balling here. What do I know.

None of Manti's problems would have happened if Romney was president!

Could you imagine the media circus over this if Romney was the president? The press would be digging into every Mormon angle possible in order to make Romney's religion look like it was full of nothing but idiots. In other word's they wouldn't have to try very hard.

Mormonism demands that people drop their natural critical thinking skills and assume the best of others.

In this case, as in all those sad cases of Mormons falling for MLM swindles, it went wrong.

Feeling sorry for the kid.
Hopefully, he won't be so trusting the next time.

>Mormonism demands that people drop their natural criticalthinking skills and assume the best of others.

That should be:

Assume the best of others if they are Mormon or open to converting.

Assume the worst if they are non-mormon or exmormon.

That and a lot of self-deception and wishful thinking seem to be part of what's required to be TBM.