Richard Webster: And Christians, how do you present this? Suppose if someone was a Christian.
Prabhupāda: Yes, Christian, if you take . . . just like Lord Jesus Christ is a bona fide teacher, and he has given his teaching, his commandments. If you follow those commandments, then you are bona fide student. But if you don't follow, then you are not bona fide.
Richard Webster: And if you try to follow but fail, or if you . . .
Prabhupāda: No, you must follow. You cannot fail. Just like Lord Christ says: "Thou shall not kill." You must follow that. If you do not follow, then you are not Christian. It is not the question of that you could not follow or you are weak or . . . you must follow.
Richard Webster: But the Christians have a thing about forgiveness of . . .
Prabhupāda: Well, whatever is there . . .
Richard Webster: Within the Christian religion there is a strong emphasis on possible failure and forgiveness.
Prabhupāda: No. Forgiveness is . . . I know that in church the confession program is there. Forgiveness . . . suppose you are or I am an offender. I ask your forgiveness. So you can forgive me once, twice, thrice, not more than that. You cannot make it a profession that you go on committing sins and God will forgive you. No, that is not possible. That is misconception. That is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā, api cet sudurācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk, sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ (BG 9.30). This sudurācāraḥ, means offender, that is not willful offense. One person is accustomed to some bad habits, but he has taken to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or God consciousness. But on account of strong habit, if he fails sometime, that is excused, forgiveness, not that willful committing sin and ask for forgiveness. That is not allowed. In common affairs we do not see. I have got practical, I mean to say, experience. In my householder life I was proprietor of a big pharmacy. So my manager sold some morphia preparation to some unauthorized person.