A question to all atheists!

[Alex K]

Yes we can know they are likely wrong, because modern physics has shown us that the old intuitive notions of a fixed linear timeline are incorrect.

If we assume time is an inseparable part of nature, your hypothetical can't be answered because of there is no time, the is no notion of "there was no natural world, and *then* there was". The sentence doesn't make sense and therefore cannot be answered.

So do you think the natural world always existed or do you think that it didn't always exist?

You apparently aren't even aware of your implicit outdated/inconsistent assumptions - if you ask me whether I think the natural world has always existed or not, you are already assuming an eternal and linear timeline which is independent of the natural world. So, you are either begging the question or saying something inconsistent.

Please note that I'm not asking if you know. I'm asking what you think given logic and contemporary scientific evidence. Just like you don't know if gravity will be here tomorrow, but you think it will be given logic and evidence.

My position is that contemporary scientific evidence strongly suggests that your hypothetical is not a consistent question that can be answered because time, as a part of spacetime, is a dynamic object with an "ontological status" on par with the contents of the universe (matter, radiation), therefore constitutes a piece of natural world. Therefore, if time exists as we know it, the natural world exists automatically. Therefore your question is inconsistent, see my sentence above.