"I've recently been reading about the history of Earth that isn't really being reveiled accurately by conventional science."
If you read the following account of creation in Genesis you will notice the command to "replenish the earth." This passage has many concepts buried in it. 1. God is plural. 2. God is both female and male. 3. There was some kind of previous creation of humans - otherwise "replenish" wouldn't be there. 4. And lastly, this is a completely separate and earlier creation than the one that created Adam and Eve - in Genesis 2:7.
Genesis 1:26-28 (KJV) And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth...
Edgar Cayce spoke of Atlantis and Mu. Very advanced civilizations. Someday science will discover them too.
Prayer is any wish, hope, dream, or concept beyond where one is now at. One can communicate with God directly by turning within and discovering the All That Is, The Source, or how ever you wish to label God - the One within. Jesus taught of the Inner Kingdom of God, and along with God's internal Kingdom, God resides there too. More and more people from completely different directions are pointing to this Inner Source. It is there that you can discover a love far deeper and more consuming than what comes from any external source. Oprah often mentions the God within. It is there that you can discover Eternal Peace, "angels" (and demons), the greatest music ever created, and many, many other wonders.
"Yeah I agree it says God in plural. Any explanation as to what the plural is? Many Gods? God and other higher beings? Or no "God" at all?"
The seven Elohim in the early Hebrew belief system were the 'gods' who
interacted with the earth for Yahew, who did not make contact with the
planet. It was the Elohim and their female counterparts who created the
earth. Michael, often referred to as an archangel, was one of the
Elohim. Some say the Elohim are male, some say female, some say there are
seven female counterparts to the Elohim. Anyway, the KJV of the bible misinterprets
the word Elohim and uses the singular god in many places instead. I have a
book that explains this and many other translation errors of KJV somewhere in my
collections.
My thoughts on an earlier creation is that yes there was one. It is obvious that Adam and Eve and their immediate offspring were farmers and herdsmen and that didn't happen until humans had been on the planet for eons.
Prayer is any thought or wish or desire. Any thought. If you wish that an individual were dead, you have prayed for their death. I think that most everyone has done that.
"So are you refering to the different names for God in the Bible? I know there were different names and I believe those were the result of the people realizing the different attributes of God as they grew spiritually. They eventually arrived at God, a loving God. IMO"
Actually, if you read "The Hidden King James Bible" by Kogelschataz, you will find that the original Hebrew has many different words that have been interpreted by KJV as "god" - The Elohim both plural and eloah singular, are just a couple. Even the Canannite word "el" is in the Hebrew bible, but is interpreted in KJV also as "god." From that book I mentioned the Elohim occurs 2,605 times in the original Hebrew text and is interpreted as god, singular in each case. The word YHVH (Jehovah) is interpreted from Hebrew to "LORD" (all capitals) by KJV. The KJV authors all had an objective in mind and that objective significantly warped their bible version.
"I think desires and wishes are more like emotions. Tempory. Also any of these like wishing someone was dead only comes back on yourself. So it's not a prayer. Prayer is communion with God in my book."
If you understand that each of us is spirit, you will understand what Jesus meant when he said: "...whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." It means that as spirit, whatever you think you are doing - you are doing. Wishes are prayer. Hopes are prayer.
"I find it interesting or amazing that you learned all this from reading the Bible though. I never got all that from the Bible. It took other sources for me to arrive at those conclusions. So hats off to you!"
I had the bible literally pounded into me as I grew up. Since then I've found another direction that includes meditation. In that process I've looked at many different things regarding what the bible says. Yet I try at the same time to keep the basic teachings of Jesus in mind as I go. There is a relatively new movement out there called the Red Letter Evangelicals and while I don't believe as they do, I am encouraged by their desire to get back to basic teachings.