Part 3 — The Hegelian Drift Effect

 (How Slow Shifts in Thinking Pull Families Away From Truth)

Most parents today feel the ground moving beneath their feet. What used to be common sense now feels controversial. What was once unquestioned biblical truth has become “just your opinion.” This didn’t happen overnight. It happened through what many call the Hegelian Drift — a slow, generational shift created when culture endlessly pushes “new ideas,” and God’s people slowly adjust to them without noticing.

1. What Is the Hegelian Drift?

Philosopher Georg Hegel taught that society changes through a cycle:

• Thesis – the original belief

• Antithesis – a challenge to that belief

• Synthesis – a “compromise” between the two

The problem? That new synthesis becomes the next thesis, which means the cycle repeats again and again — each time pulling people further from their starting point.
This is the drift.
It’s not a violent overthrow; it’s a slow erosion of truth.

2. How the Drift Shows Up in Scripture

Israel experienced this cycle over and over:

• Judges 2:10 – a new generation “knew not the LORD”

• 1 Samuel 8 – people demanded a king “like the nations”

• Jeremiah 6:16 – God had to call them back to “the old paths”

Even David’s world in Psalm 6 fits this pattern. David’s tears were not only about enemies but about a generation drifting, a son (Absalom) who embraced an antithesis to everything he taught.

A father standing for truth while his own child embraces rebellion — that is the pain of drift.

3. The Drift Today: How It Affects Parents and Children

Today the drift shows up like this:

• Parents still believe Scripture.

• Culture pushes a new moral “antithesis.”

• Children feel pressure to “synthesize” a new view so they aren’t seen as old-fashioned or intolerant.

Before long, the home is divided:

• politically

• morally

• spiritually

Not because someone rejected the Bible in one day, but because tiny shifts, over years, created a new “normal.”

David understood this. Psalm 6 shows a man weeping not only from fear but from watching what rebellion does to a home.

4. How to Resist the Drift

Parents don’t need to out-argue society; they need to anchor their home.

Here’s how:

(1) Return to the old paths — Jeremiah 6:16

Don’t apologize for believing the Bible.
Don’t soften it.
Don’t water it down to match the age.

(2) Speak truth early and often — Deut. 6:6–7

The world disciples our children constantly.
We must speak truth intentionally.

(3) Teach your children how culture changes

Kids can spot manipulation if you show them the pattern:

• Step 1: Question truth

• Step 2: Shame disagreement

• Step 3: Redefine the new belief as “love”

When they understand the drift, they’re less likely to be caught in it.

(4) Stay tender, not terrified — Psalm 6:8–9

David cried, but he didn’t crumble.
God heard him.
Parents today can take the same comfort.

5. Why This Matters Psalm 6.

Psalm 6 is not just a song of sorrow.
It is a warning and a comfort:

• A warning: rebellion in a generation brings heartbreak.

• A comfort: God hears the cry of parents standing for truth.

Today’s “Hegelian drift” is simply a modern version of the old biblical battle:
Truth vs. the slow creep of error.

And just like David, parents can cling to the promise:

“The LORD hath heard the voice of my weeping.” (Psalm 6:8)