Belief, not acceptance. I can see how God would want us to choose whether to accept him (whatever that may mean), but belief depends on how likely the proposition seems to each individual person. Hiding from us would seem to stack the deck in favor of the easily convinced. A level playing field would be something easy to believe (because it is easily seen or experienced) coupled with a free choice, with neither carrot nor stick.
That's the catch. If evidence for God was easily seen or experienced everyone would choose to believe, and that would be too easy. God does not want to be easily believed. God wants us to prove our worthiness by making some effort. If it were too easy to believe then God would not be able to separate out people who are really willing to make an effort to believe from those who aren't.
However, the fact that most people in the world are believers means that it cannot be as hard as you make it seem.
Incidentally, God wouldn't have to interfere with our free will. Just make his existence more obvious.
That's true, but as I said above, if evidence for God was easily seen or experienced everyone would choose to believe.
That's a small question with a big answer. This thread is long enough already.
I'd sure like to see the big answer, someday.
![Wink ;) ;)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
The small answer is that most people believe in God because of a Messenger, Holy man, Prophet, or whatever you choose to call him. Atheists reject these individuals as evidence for God, which is why they don't believe in God.
Nice quotation (seriously). I assume then that he doesn't, elsewhere, make any definitive claims about the nature of God or what God wants of us?
He never reveals the intrinsic nature of God. He only reveals some attributes of God and what God wants of us.