Sullivan, an openly homosexual Catholic, accused evangelicals of forcing their own interpretation upon Scripture to prove the sinfulness of homosexuality. He pointed out that the Old Testament prescribes the death penalty for homosexuals.

“I say the Scripture is clear and Scripture says that I should be put to death,” Sullivan said. “The very verse that says that ‘[You] shall not lie with another man as one does with a woman,’ says that I should face the death penalty. That's clear.... Why is that not taken seriously?”

But Mohler pointed out the importance of understanding Scripture within its proper context. The death penalty for homosexuality was given as a law for Old Testament Israel, he said. With the advent of the new covenant, Christ has now borne the death penalty in the place of sinners and thus the theocratic laws that governed Old Testament Israel are no longer binding, Mohler said.

Although homosexuals no longer face capital punishment, their behavior is still sin according to the Bible, he said. The majority of Christians throughout history have understood the Bible this way, he said.

“There is always the danger that we will read our interpretation of Scripture,” Mohler said. “That's why for one thing we're dependent upon how Christians have read the Scriptures for centuries in which there has been a universal consensus about what the Scriptures had to say about sexuality.”

Robinson said Christians must follow Jesus' example in continually "reinterpreting Scripture." He said the key to Christianity is what is “in one’s heart” and that Jesus would embrace homosexuals just as they are.

“We follow a person [Jesus] who was always reinterpreting Scripture and letting people know that it's the spirit of what's going on in one's heart that is the real key and when he said ‘love one another as I have loved you,’ it means that we need to be moving to the margins, doing justice work, working against racism,” Robinson said.

“[These are] all kinds of things that Jesus would be doing in this day and time. I have no question in my mind that Jesus considers me beloved -- just as I am.”

Mohler, though, said Scripture is clear in teaching that homosexuality is a sin. Christians merely are sinners who have been saved by God’s grace from not only homosexuality but also from various other sins, Mohler said. Thus, there is forgiveness for homosexuals and sinners of all types through faith in Jesus Christ, he said.

“I know the one thing that must not change is this: as one sinner saved by grace to other sinners, I say come to Jesus Christ and come to newness of life,” Mohler said. “It will change your sex life ... It will change every dimension of your life ... by the grace and mercy of God.”

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