Evangelicals tend to emphasize salvation by grace not works so the original in the Bible tends to get interpreted differently. Such as “In the context of Jesus’ teachings, especially in the context of Matthew (as opposed to Luke), this parable addresses not serving all the poor but receiving the gospel’s messengers.”

I suspect one way of distinguishing evangelical from liberal protestant christians is how they interpret the goats and sheep. I also suspect that it is a liberal christian with universalist tendencies who wrote the rewrite (the atheist gets entrance immediately, the others will get in eventually). The original casts the uncaring into eternal fire (which is usually the bit the liberal christians have problems with). (Note that liberal here refers to liberal theologically not necessarily politically).

http://www.religioustolerance.org/salwdjs1.htm has more

God: “And now you my child, what did you do in your life?”

Atheist: “If you were God, you’d already know.”

~David D.G.

They see no shades of gray or irony in such a story. The bible is clear, the circle goes round and round and round. It’s a very comforting and high-minded concept for them, and just a ridiculous fiction for us.

“If god is smart enough to create this universe, then he probably couldn’t care less whether a microorganism like me believes in him or not. And if he’s into hanging out with such, I bet the independent thinkers are the ones who he would most identify with.”

So, at what point does God judge himself for not raising his hand to help?

Seriously.