When we hear people speak of influenza, or the flu, "going around" through infection or contagion, we seldom remember that this disease, now traced by modern medicine to a virus, was once thought to result from the "influence" of the stars. But actually, how far advanced over this old superstition is the modern belief of a contagious influence? The fact is that neither the stars, a virus, nor any other so-called material agent can affect an individual adversely if he knows that God, divine Mind, is the only creator or cause.
Christian Science teaches that man is a spiritual being, who exists always in the atmosphere of divine Love, safe from any supposed afflictive agent. Man, created in God's likeness, is unchanging and unchangeable. He rests in God-reflected activity, his health and strength continuously sustained by infinite Spirit. One who understands this is empowered by God to resist evil of every nature and to rely confidently upon divine Truth for his well-being. Christian Science denies the existence of viruses, because they cannot be the product of the one all-good, all-powerful creator, God.
Christ Jesus' fearlessness of contagion, in a society permeated by this fear, was shown in his compassionate treatment of those who had been branded "lepers." Shunned more for religious than for medical reasons, these people were required to live on the outskirts of settlements, and to warn others of their approach by calling out "unclean." Jesus, however, was unimpressed by this supposed threat. When a leper asked him for healing, Jesus reached out his hand and touched him, saying, "I will; be thou clean." Matt. 8:3. What a wonderful, loving, comforting thing to do! That was the Christly consciousness, completely nullifying the belief of contagion, meeting the human need through the compassion derived from divine Love.
