DISCLAIMER: I RECEIVED A FREE COPY OF THIS PRODUCT THROUGH THE HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW IN EXCHANGE FOR MY HONEST REVIEW. I WAS NOT REQUIRED TO WRITE A POSITIVE REVIEW NOR WAS I COMPENSATED IN ANY OTHER WAY.
Conversation, it’s one of the things I love best as my lad grows older. Conversations about God, life, purpose, people and whatever else he (or I) am learning about. It is absolutely fantastic. Recently we’ve been reviewing an apologetics program called The Unbreakable Faith Course. It’s been put out by Pilgrim’s Rock, LLC… and it is causing lots of conversation in our household and I love that. I can’t wait to tell you all about in this review for the Homeschool Review Crew.
What I am Reviewing
Pilgrim’s Rock, LLC is the designer of the The Unbreakable Faith Course. With this course you’ll receive online information as well as two books. These books are called God the Reason and The Box. I received these books as PDF’s but there is an option to get the physical books as well. This is a credited Christian apologetics course. Their goal is to help teens, young adults and families take on a biblical worldview so we can show and talk about God’s infinite excellence to those around us.
How we used it
Our goal was to do The Unbreakable Faith Course with the whole family. My son wanted dad to be involved. My husband works long hours into the early morning hours, which made working out the logistics a bit of a challenge. 🙂 What we ended up planning was two-three days a week we would read “The Box” together, and watch one video. We ended up missing watching videos since life sometimes get complicated with later than normal shifts and a need for sleep! 🙂
The first thing I did was connect with Staples and get them to print off the PDF’s. These are fairly large books and I didn’t want to print them all off at home. My son and I read hard-copies of books easier than using e-readers.
How far did we get? We’ve watched three videos, and I’ve read the first two chapters of “God the Reason”, and have finished “The Box”. My son has been steadily reading one chapter a week. The Box is mostly finished, and he’s about to start on God the Reason.
The Box
The Box, written by Craig Biehl, is covered in the first lesson. 17 chapters, much of which is a conversation between Mr. A and Mr. C. It is broken up into three sections.
- Answering the Faith of the Atheist (9 chapters)
- Answering the Faith of the Agnostic (5 chapters)
- Concluding Remarks (3 chapters)
The book closes with acknowledgements, about the author and resources for parents. The Box demonstrates how to have a conversation with non-believers. The conversation is at times stilted but that’s to be expected when you are “setting the scene”. I did find it to be a bit repetitive at times. My son sometimes struggled with the authors not taking everything thought into account. Many of his questions were about “what if this” and “what about that”. He’s a bit of a perfectionist so wording matters to him.
Presuppositional apologetics are a big part of The Box. If we get to the root of a person’s thought process, the better we are able to ask questions to help them see truth and deception.
God the Reason
God the Reason is the larger of the two books. It has 15 chapters with distinct sections.
- God is Eternal (6 sections)
- God Needs Nothing (5 sections)
- God Cannot be Known unless he reveals himself (five sections)
- God is Boundless perfection (7 sections)
- God Does not Change (2 sections)
- God is Undivided (3 sections)
- God is Spirit (3 sections)
- God knows everything (4 sections)
- God is Wise (3 sections)
- God is True and Truthful (3 sections)
- God is Good and Love (4 sections)
- God is Holy (4 sections)
- God is righteous (4 sections)
- God is infinitely powerful (6 sections)
- God Rules over all (8 sections)
There is a conclusion, two appendices, acknowledgements, works cited, and two indexes.
This book was very much appreciated. Easy to read and understand. I love the short sections contained within each chapter with the clear headings of what they were about. This book was also written by Craig Biehl and really helps people understand the nature and majesty of God.
The more we understand the nature of God, the more we are enabled to import worldview truths to those around us.
Course Set Up
This is a self-paced course. Take it at your own speed, but if doing it for a credit needs to be finished within 36 weeks of start.
One of the many helpful aspects of Pilgrim’s Rock is they give you a tour of your dashboard. Helping you to understand the many different parts in this presuppositional apologetics course.
Your lesson work is set up in such a way that you need to complete each section before heading into the next one. This ensures that you can’t jump ahead, though… if you really want to.. it is possible. 🙂
We haven’t gotten to the point of taking a test yet. It is important to note that these tests are timed. You have 36 weeks to complete the course from the time that you start it.
The structure of the course is to read chapters of God the Reason and The Box. These readings and chapters are followed up by a quiz. These quizzes can only be taken once. I loved the questions that my son came up with, they showed he was understanding the chapters he read. I do regret that the course itself asks no questions to help you understand what you are reading or how it all fits together into a cohesive unit.
Watching videos is a great way for my lad to learn. He’s generally audio-oriented so having video just adds. He did mention that he would like to have a transcript of the videos as well. His intention is to watch the videos again, and if he had the transcript he could circle the parts of the transcript he wanted to remember for the quiz.
They have different pricing options depending if you need credit or not. The course is designed for individuals 15 years or older. As I read through it and listened to my 14 year old, I think the age range is pretty good. My son didn’t seem to struggle with it at all, but it’s definitely not geared for elementary students.
So What Did we Think?
My thoughts: “I really like how God the Reason is done. Short chapters with smaller sections that reinforce the main topic. The videos do a good job of supporting this book. I would really like if the test could be printed out and wasn’t timed. I absolutely adore the fact that my son asks great questions with this course. That in and of itself makes this an excellent course.”
My son’s thoughts: “It’s okay. I don’t like the conversations in The Box, I like just straight-forward writing. I like the videos. I like when mom can read God the Reason to me and I can listen and ask questions.“
Dad’s thoughts: “They approach apologetics from a different perspective then I would, but they don’t do a bad job. It would be good if it came with questions, or at least conversation starters.”
35 members of the Homeschool Review Crew have taken a look at Pilgrim’s Rock, The Unbreakable Faith Course. You can check out their reviews at this link or by clicking on the image below.
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I sure did think I had commented but evidently not.
I think this sounds like an interesting course but do wish I knew more about how he approached salvation. The Box sounds similar to Muscle and a Shovel in that you see the reason someone might use in handling questions of understanding.
So glad the lad is learning and asking good questions.
Interestingly enough, salvation doesn’t come up in The Box. He goes after the reasoning behind the statements people make.
Hi Lori,
Thank you for your interest in the Unbreakable Faith course, and for your excellent question. I only treat salvation briefly in The Box in the chapter, “Apologetics and the Gospel,” wherein I note that salvation is by grace, through faith in Christ alone.
God the Reason (the other text for the course) treats salvation in depth, both by the foundation and need of salvation throughout the book, and in detail in the chapter, “God is Righteous,” in the sub-section, “Distortions of God’s Justice Distort the Gospel.” In short, because God created us we owe Him all love, honor, and obedience, always. Yet, since the sin of Adam we are all born in sin and under God’s righteous condemnation. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” both in Adam and in our own choices. God’s strict and holy justice must be satisfied if a single soul is to be forgiven their sin and given eternal life. God the Son took on Himself a human body and nature to be our substitute, to satisfy God’s justice for us, while as God He satisfied it to an infinite degree, earning for us infinite merit by His perfect and voluntary obedience and by paying the infinite penalty required for sin by dying and suffering infinite wrath on the cross in our place. Christ, alone, satisfied the positive requirement of perfect obedience, and satisfied the negative requirement of death for sin. Through faith in Christ, we are united to Him as a bride unites to a bridegroom, and all that Christ accomplished as our Mediator is imputed or credited to our account. Believers are “covered” in the righteousness of Christ and loved by God as he loves His very own Son. Salvation is only possible in and through the perfect saving work of Christ, the benefits of which are freely given to those who place their faith in Him. Thus, we are saved by grace, through faith in Christ, alone. Salvation is impossible any other way.
Thank you again for your interest and question, Lori, I hope this is helpful to you. Feel free to contact us through our website http://www.pilgrimsrock.com if you have further questions, we would be glad to help you.
In Christ our Lord,
Craig
Hello Annette,
Thank you for you in-depth and honest review of the Unbreakable Faith course, we are honored that you took the time with your son to take the course and provide such an excellent and detailed summary of its content. We hope it will prove to be a blessing to you and your family as you see how the principles come into play in your interactions with unbelievers and in your wrestling with deep mysteries regarding God and His world. We are encouraged by your desire to learn more of Christ and His inexhaustible and infinite excellence, and to reach others with the Gospel. May God richly bless you and your family!
In Christ our Lord,
Craig Biehl
Thank you very Craig for taking the time to read my review.