Youth Pastor Who Celebrated Girlfriend ‘Finally’ Turning 18 After An Alleged 4 Year Relationship Stirs Debate
This doesn't seem appropriate.
Twitter The internet has turned its attention towards a German youth pastor with recent accusations of grooming when a viral tweet called him out.
The tweet posted an image of a past Instagram post of his, and many have now been accusing the youth pastor Joshua Wesely of grooming because the post states that he had been dating his girlfriend for four years prior to her 18th birthday.
The youth pastor is facing intense backlash for allegedly dating a teenager.
The tweet that has blown up with thousands of likes and responses was uploaded Feb. 14, 2022.
It shows a screenshot of a birthday post he made for his then-girlfriend, now-wife a few years back.
The image shows the couple smiling, holding balloons that spell out 18.
In the caption he writes, among well wishes, that his girlfriend is “finally 18,” and he later adds, “you have been my best friend for 4 years, you are my girlfriend that I love, appreciate, respect, and admire more than anything.”
The original tweet responds to the post with a sarcastic tone, writing, “So this YouTube youth pastor waited 4 years for his girlfriend to turn 18… I’m not great at math but… what’s that called?”
Many people added their own perspectives on this situation and on grooming in general.
One user shared a personal anecdote from their own church, claiming they no longer allow youth pastors to be single to prevent predatory behavior taking advantage of an unequal power dynamic.
Another commentor remarked, wondering how the girl’s parents let this happen.
A lot of facts are still unclear about the situation.
Many others were quick to make jokes about the concerning relationship; however, not everyone immediately understood what was wrong with the situation.
Some people said the relationship is acceptable because the age of consent in Germany is 14, but only if the other partner is under 21. However, what is lawful versus what is ethical is probably not the same conversation when it comes to this.
That being said, the age of the youth pastor is not entirely known.
While he looks significantly older than his wife and youth pastors are usually adults, it is not obvious how much older he is.
This element obviously plays a big part in the ethics of their relationship.
All we have at this point are rumors, most of which claim that the Wesely is 24. However, these claims don’t come from any proven sources, so his age remains undetermined.
This is not Wesely’s first controversial move.
Wesely has recently become reluctantly familiar to the public eye from a controversial film that he directed and starred in called “2025 — The World Enslaved by a Virus.”
This movie imagines a dystopian communist not-so-distant future that condemns Christianity — all resulting from COVID restrictions.
The film has a 1.1 out of 10 rating on IMDB, and many people criticize the message that implies COVID is a governmental conspiracy for control.
However, a questionable film raised far fewer concerns than the possibility of him grooming a teenage girl.
Wesely has not yet addressed the claims or criticism against him.
Both Wesely and his wife have now private their Instagram accounts following the circling criticisms.
His YouTube Channel is still public; however, he has not posted in the last three months.
That we have seen, he has not responded to any of the accusations of grooming nor has he added any further context to their relationship, such as his age, that might have helped his image in the situation.
Amanda Hartmann is a writer and editorial intern at YourTango who writes on various topics such as news and entertainment.