Omniscience ≠ No Free Will
If God already knows what you will do, is it still really a choice? TL;DR: What would be the point of running a universe where everything is fixed? I think the GO universe was more like an ant farm than a computer program.
Knowledge is not necessarily causation - knowing something will happen is not the same thing as forcing it to happen. The theological idea is usually that God knows everything because she exists outside of time. Or that's the theory anyway. It would be pretty boring to start a deterministic universe where everything happens exactly as expected (like in my opinion, the universe Asa and Anthony seemed to get?).
I'm saying this because I've seen people discuss that God "shipped" Aziraphale and Crowley or that she planned that they will fall in love. I don't think so.
God says Aziraphale’s love was predictable. But honestly, I would say that too.
Not because Aziraphale was compelled, but because this is who he is. Because of how deeply he cares. Because of the way he always admired Crowley, from the beginning.
If I know what someone will do because I understand them deeply, that does not mean I am making them do it.
The - you could never have had him - was on her though. She could have stopped the farce with the two sides and the 6000 years and the animosity and Aziraphale at some point even hoped she might if he can reason with her.
But she's not the reasonable kind I don't think, nor trustworthy - which is why I absolutely do not understand Crowley's choice to trust she will fulfil his wish.
No matter the fear, doctrine, punishment, or uncertainty, Aziraphale kept choosing to love Crowley. Freely. As freely as anyone can choose to love. Even when people accuse him of not loving well enough.
I think Aziraphale did everything he could.
He kept them alive. He gave Crowley a bright spot in his life. A home. An anchor.
Aziraphale’s love is almost the opposite of determinism.
It’s a moral constancy via a free choice because the safer option would have been to stay away. To forget Crowley. To follow rules. To obey orders. And that's not who Aziraphale ever was. Aziraphale always went as far he had to with Heaven and no further. Just like Crowley said. He did what he could otherwise.
God created Aziraphale though (and Crowley) so aren't they just her dolls to pull strings on?
Well. No. Unless she created a fully deterministic universe as I said. (Which, to be fair, is something philosophers explore even without God. Just ask Laplace’s Demon - and I'd love to explore this but this is already getting long.)
The Ineffables have a discussion regarding Adam right? Will they be able to influence who he is via upbringing? What actually shapes us? Is it genetics? Is it the people around us? Is it just fate?
I think Good Omens lands firmly on environment and connection mattering more than anything. What ultimately cements Adam’s decision is his love for his friends, his family, and Tadfield itself.
But Adam still made a choice. The three card shuffle made a mistake because Crowley did. And Adam refused to end the world. He was offered absolute power. The chance to rule everything. To destroy everything and begin again.
And he said no!
He chose humanity instead. He chose trying to make things better rather than throwing the world away.
(Do I have to bring in here how nonsensical I see the ending of GO3 again?)
Aziraphale may have been created compassionate, curious, gentle, loving, but those traits don’t force every action. And anyway, he's also sassy and a bit of a bastard, stubborn and fierce and disobedient.
What would be the point of running a universe where everything is fixed? I think the GO universe was more like an ant farm than a computer program. And that's why it was going off kilter. And why GO3 makes no sense.
