…. memorable, illustrious, remarkable life
By Sylvester Thompson, ABUJA
Virtually every religion and society have embraced the notion that humans continue to exist, or will exist again after death. Researchers refer to the fear as “death anxiety“. In recent decades many books and scientific reports have been written on the topic. Still, most people prefer not to think about death. The reality of death, however forces us to think about it sooner or later. Human life is very fragile, over 160,000 people die on average each day! Every human, without exception, is subject to death, and this reality is very frightening to many.
Experts have classified death anxiety into various categories. These include the fear of pain, the fear of the unknown, the fear of losing loved ones in death, and the fear of the negative consequences that one’s death may have on survivors.
Prominent among those anxieties is the fear of ceasing to exist. Religious beliefs notwithstanding, the idea that death is the absolute end of life scares many people. And science adds fuel to this fear. After all, most function of the human body can now be explained in scientific terms. Certainly, no biologist, physicist, or chemist has ever found within us evidence of an invisible entity capable of surviving the death of the physical body. Hence, many scientists explain human death as merely a biological process.
Probably no other issue has been as perplexing and persistent as the question of what happens after death. For thousands of years, brilliant minds in every civilization have pondered this question. But human philosophy and scientific research have merely a jumble of theories and myths.
Virtually everyone considers death to be an unpleasant subject. Most people especially seem to avoid discussing their own death or even thinking about it. Human beings not only desire to live indefinitely but also have the potential to remain busy and productive forever. There seems to be no limit to a person’s capacity to learn. It has been said that nothing in nature compares with the human brain when it comes to complexity and resilience. Unlike animals, we have creative minds capable of reasoning and understanding abstract concepts. Scientists have barely scratched the surface when it comes to understanding the potential of the human brain.
Most of this potential remains as we grow older. Neuroscientists have learnt that most brain functions remain unharmed by the aging process. Researchers working for the Franklin Institute’s Centre for innovation in science learning explain: “The human brain is able to continually adapt and rewire itself. Even in old age, it can grow new neurons. Severe mental decline is usually caused by disease, whereas most age- related losses in memory or motor skills simply result from inactivity and a lack of mental exercise and stimulation’’.
In other words, if we could keep the brain intellectually stimulated and free from disease, it could keep working indefinitely. “The brain’’, declares molecular biologist James Watson, co-discoverer of the physical structure of DNA, “is the most complex thing we have yet discovered in our universe’’.
A book by neuroscientist Gerald Edelmand explains that a section of the brain the size of a match head “contains about a billion connections that can combine in ways which can only be described as hyper-astronomical on the order of ten followed by millions of zeros’’.
However, Christ Himself represented death as a sleep to His believing children. Their life is hid with Christ in God. We know that a table has four legs, yet it does not walk; the ear does not hear; nor the tongue wag unless there is someone to wag it. The brain would think on forever, isolate it and it would not think. It is the thinker using the brain, who thinks. There is also one using the power of vision, looking through the windows of the eyes, who sees… In all possibility, we believe that there is a body within a body to infinity, and it is our belief that we do have.
The resurrection body, then, will not be snatched from some cosmic shelf, as the soul soars aloft. It is already within and we may be certain that it will be a fit instrument for the future unfoldment of the soul. If this is true, and if remembrance links events together, in a continuous stream of consciousness and form, the future body will resemble this one, except that it will be free from disease, old age, or whatever hinders a complete flow of the spirit. This is immortality, it is the continuity of life after death of the body. It is keeping one’s memory alive.
In this edition, we have inducted Elder Johnson Olubisi Akinbo, a School Master into Mainstream Immortals. A man whose purposeful life left behind legacies in the form of his children, one of whom is Professor Olalekan Akinbo, Supervisor at the African Union Centre of Excellence in Science, Technology and Innovation.
A School Master gains Immortality: Elder Johnson Olubisi Akinbo
Early life/Education/work
Elder Johnson Akinbo was born in 1938 at Modakeke to the family of late Pa. Daniel Oyerinde Ayinla Akinbo and late Madam Abigeal Oladunni Asabi Akinbo.
After completing his primary education at the Apostolic School Odo-Okun, Modakeke in 1954, he proceeded to the Apostolic Teacher Training College Oko Oye, Ilesa in 1959 and 1960 for Teachers Grade Three Certificate. He also acquired Teachers Grade Two Certificate from the same college in 1964.
In 1970, Elder Akinbo was enrolled in the Nigerian Army Depot, Abeokuta for military training and after successful pass out, he was admitted into the Nigerian Army School of Education, Baboko Ilorin in 1972 and 1974 for army education A1 Trade classified.
In 1977 and 1978 he attended the University of Lagos and obtained Associateship Diploma in Education.
Family members and well-wishers
Akinbo was appointed a Probationary Teacher in 1956 and was posted to Saint Michael’s Anglican Schools, Onibanbu. He was the headmaster in various schools between 1956, 1979 and 1985 till his retirement.
Alongside his mates with Associateship Diploma Certificates, they were deployed to teach in Schools by a Military Governor’s decree where he was posted to Urban Day Grammer School, Modakeke in 1980.
Church service
He was redeployed back to primary school in July 1985 and transferred to An Sar Ur Islamic school Mefoworade as a headmaster. He taught in many primary schools in Oranmiyan Local Government before retiring at the Apostolic Central school, Odo-Okun (his alma mater) Modakeke in December 1992 as headmaster.
Prof.Olalekan Akinbo, son
Leadership qualities
Elder Akinbo was a man of exemplary leadership and zeal for God’s work. He was the Chairman of Ifesowapo Social Circle, Modakeke.
He was Chairman of the defunct Interlink Credit Society, also former Chairman of Young Men Christian Elite, Modakeke.
He was former Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners, Modakeke(Civil)
He was former Chairman of P.T.A of Government Baptist Middle School, Iraye, Modakeke
He was also the Secretary of Young Men Christian Elite, Modakeke
He was Secretary of Omo Ile Ajonbadi Royal Compound, Oke-Eso Modakeke
He was Secretary, Omo Ile Akinbo Itaasin Modakeke
He was former Financial Secretary Ajonbadi Adeowo Landlords Association, Modakeke
Elder Akinbo displayed in his coffin
Millennium Elder
Due to his service to God’s work, Elder Aknibo was ordained a Deacon and Elder in 2001. His profession in the service of God’s work gave him the nickname “Millennium Elder’’ by his friends and well-wishers. He was a member of the church financial committee.
He was also once, a member of the Apostolic Church Alapata District faith home and the treasurer of the men’s wing of the Alapata Assembly.
At the church
Elder Akinbo was married to Deaconess Eunice Olajide Adunni Akinbo who passed away on December 23, 2014. They were blessed with children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
He died in May 2022 at the age of 85 and was buried on August 18, 2023
Church service
What’s good about death?
According to an Institute of Medicine report, a good death is: “free from avoidable distress and suffering for patient, family and caregivers, in general accord with the patient’s and family’s wishes, and reasonably consistent with clinical, cultural and ethical standard.’’
From Express.uk/news/science
A WORLD-RENOWNED doctor has revealed to the world what it is like to die and says that the process is `peaceful’ and `pleasant’. -BY SEAN MARTIN
Dr Sarn Parnia, director of critical care and resuscitation research at NYU Language School of Medicine in New York City, said dying is “very comfortable’’. And the doctor said people who have had a near-death experience sometimes describe encounters with deceased relatives but insists the sensation is not evidence of the afterlife.
Regarding the physical process, Dr Parnia told a recent Oz Talk, “death is a process, it is not a black and white moment.’’ He added: “The final result is we have a reduction of oxygen that gets inside brain circuits to shut down and we become unconscious to the outside world.
“When the heart stops, all life processes go out because there is no blood getting to the brain, to the kidneys, and liver and we become lifeless and motionless and that is the time that doctors use to give us a time of death.’’
But the doctor, who has authored several studies and books on the subject of death said there is a mental process, which has left survivors of near-death experiences longing for death again.
Dr Parnia, who has brought thousands of patients back from the brink, said: “When we die, that experience is not unpleasant for the vast majority of people. For those of us who die naturally, even if we were in pain before we die, the process of death becomes very comfortable, it is very blissful, peaceful.
“People describe a sensation of experiencing their deceased relatives, almost as if they have come to welcome them. They often say that they didn’t want to come back (to life) in many cases, it is so comfortable and it is like a magnet that draws them that they don’t want to come back.
“A lot of people describe a sensation of separation from themselves and watching doctors and nurses working on them.
“They can hear things and record all conversations that are going on around on around them.
“Some of them describe a sensation where they review everything that they have done.’’
However, Dr Parnia says there are scientific explanations for this reaction, and says seeing people is not evidence of the afterlife, but more likely the brain just scanning itself as a survival technique.
He said thanks to modern technology and science, “death does not have to be limited to philosophy and religion, but it can be explained through science’’ . EXPRESS NEWS
Additional resources
The Science of Mind, Ernest Holmes
Death, Is it really the end? (Awake! December 2007)
