I just listened to an atheist talking to a Christian about what it would take for him to believe that God exists and wanted a relationship with him.
The requirement was that God would be prepared to jump through whatever hoops the atheist chose to hold up, like answering a specific prayer for something, and if God didn't comply then either He doesn't exist or He isn't really serious about having a relationship with this atheist.
For some reason the creation of the whole universe out of nothing, along with the fact that he is a reasoning, personal being, doesn't clinch it for him that God exists. If a particular prayer was answered then that would seal it, because him getting his prayer request by chance is far more improbable than this whole universe coming into existence out of nothing without a cause, and producing creatures that are rational, relational and responsible...
And also, God granting a prayer request for something the atheist doesn't need, and which costs God nothing, that would definitely prove God wanted a relationship with him, far more than, say, God entering into humanity and giving Himself on the cross to bear the punishment for our sin in fulfilment of the prophecies to provide salvation for us. What does that prove?
God doesn't have to prove His existence or His interest, He already has. To look at creation and the cross and demand more proof is not an example of honest seeking, it is the epitome of unreasonable scepticism.
