Author Spotlight: Cliff K.K. Lun, Ph.D.
We are pleased to introduce author Cliff K.K. Lun, Ph.D. Cliff recently published Before the Beginning to Beyond the End, which is now available through the Word Alive Press Bookstore, and everywhere fine Christian books are sold. We asked Cliff to share a little bit about his writing and his new book. But first, a little bit about his.
About
Cliff Lun and his wife Michelle live in Toronto, Ontario where Cliff has worked as a professional consulting engineer in energy resources, oil and gas, petrochemicals and chemicals, mining, minerals, and metal industries for the last fifteen years. They have two sons and two sponsored children in Africa and Middle East.
Cliff was born in Hong Kong and immigrated to Canada in 1975 with his family when he was a teenager. He had the opportunity to meet Christians in Friday youth fellowship and learn about the messages in the Bible. He was baptized in 1978 after believing Jesus Christ, who is Saviour and Lord to him personally and also the world.
Ever since, he has been fascinated with the biblical records about creation, the fall of mankind, the meaning of life and death, the existence of soul and spirits in creatures, free will, Satan’s original sin, pain, and suffering. These topics remained at the back of his mind while he pursued his education through CEGEP from Dawson College, a B. Eng. in 1981 in Mechanical Engineering in the Honours Mechanical Program and Aeronautical Options, a M. Eng. in 1983 in Civil, Structural, and Applied Mechanics, and a Ph.D. with Dean’s Honour in 1986 from McGill University. He then moved to Boston and performed his postdoctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for almost two years.
Cliff joined the faculty of Engineering of Dalhousie University in 1988 as an assistant professor, was tenured in 1991, and became an associated professor in 1997. He has practiced his engineering problem-solving skills and research for more than thirty-three years.
Cliff has made tangible and significant contributions to science and engineering in the development of numerical simulations of fluid-solids flows and the kinetic theory of rapid granular flows. His pioneering works in the kinetic theory of fluid-solids flows has been published in peer-refereed journals, featured in a number of textbooks, and adopted in industrial computational fluid dynamics software packages.
Q&A
Q: What inspired you to write a book about before the beginning and beyond the end?
A: I have always found the creation account in the Bible hard to visualize, comprehend, and relate to based on what we know about nature today. It is difficult to get a clear picture of what exactly took place through the pages of the Bible in terms of a number of important topics—for example, the creation week, the role of angels, Satan and demons, the meaning of life, soul and spirit, and the fall of humans.
I am a typical engineer who likes to have exact numerical answers to engineering problems. As an engineering professor, I have given countless tests and exams to students who are required to provide correct answers to questions. So I searched for answers to a number of questions regarding creation, angels, Satan, the meaning of life and death, etc. and couldn’t find any that satisfied me. I couldn’t stand seeing a blurry and obscure picture of creation while the world, even many in Christian circles, took for truth the molecule-to-man evolution hypothesis.
I decided to sort things out for myself and started learning Hebrew and Greek on my own in my spare time. I’ve spent the past thirty-some years gathering information, researching various topics, and writing down the answers to my questions.
Before the Beginning to Beyond the End is essentially the product of my quest for answers about God’s acts during the creation week, the origin of evil, Satan and angels, the differences between the lives of animals and those of humans, the gift of freewill, the cause for humanity’s fall, God’s redemption plan, Jesus’s fulfillment of Messianic prophecies, future events in the world, and what will happen to us beyond the end of time.
Q: Sometimes you provide answers to questions—relating to creation, the meaning of life and death, freewill, etc.—which might have other plausible answers. Could you comment on the correctness of your answers?
A: The answers I have provided for these subjects are of course based on my best knowledge of the scriptures, nature and science, the exposition by others, common sense, and logic. If one asks a hundred people about any of life’s biggest questions, one will likely get a hundred different answers. The ones I provide in the book represent the best answers I can find thus far. I have paid special attention to ensure that what I write does not conflict with the scriptures, which is the word of God. Readers should make their own judgments for the exactitude of the answers.
Q: How long did it take to write the manuscript, and did you ever feel like quitting?
A: It takes time to research and sorting through so many topics. I spent thirty some years writing the manuscript bit by bit in my spare time. It was a slow grind for me, and many times it grinded to a halt. However, an inner voice kept telling me to continue. Gradually, I build up the skeleton of the book and then its body. Finally, it came into its current form with the help of the editorial staff at Word Alive Press.
Q: Who do you think will read your book, and how will your writing help or inform them?
A: I have written the book with young people, university undergraduates, and graduate students between eighteen and thirty years in mind. However, everyone who searches for answers would likely be interested in reading it. They will see a clear picture of creation unpacked in front of them, as well as God’s salvation plan for mankind and the future beyond the end of the world.
Q: How different is the final edited version from your original manuscript?
A: The basic framework of the book in terms of content remains the same. However, the final edited version differs significantly from my original manuscript in terms of English expression, clarity of grammar, and effectiveness in deliberation. The editorial and typesetting staff at Word Alive Press provided further polishing to the text. Also, all the references have been transformed into endnotes.
Q: If you had to do it over again, what would you do differently?
A: I would start by taking a course in writing a book before diving in headfirst. Then I would establish a good plan, with milestones to achieve along the way. After scrutinizing and revising the preliminary table of contents a number of times, I would execute the plan methodologically until it was done.
Q: How would you advise others who may want to write?
A: Writing a book is fun, but at the same time it’s quite demanding and time-consuming. Different types of book require different types of writing skills. For example, non-fiction books should be treated as records of fact and truth, with solid references. Talking to writers and performing in-depth research is helpful in the overall process.
Q: What is your next writing project?
A: At the moment, I have embarked on another writing journey about the birthday of Jesus Christ. I just cannot stand not being able to establish a firm year dating Jesus’s birth. The consensus of modern scholarship dates Jesus’s birth to 4 B.C., but such a date has a lot of issues. They accuse Luke of being wrong regarding the date of the census and the governor who took it.
This topic has been debated for a long time. However, I believe I have something to contribute to bring about a clear picture confirming the correctness of the early Christian consensus of Jesus’s birth year in 3/2 B.C. Consequently, Matthew and Luke are right after all.
Connecting Points
Find and follow Cliff here:
LinkedIn: Cliff Lun
WhatsApp: Cliff Lun
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Before the Beginning to Beyond the End is now available for pre-order!