"What do theistic evolution, transhumanism, Neo-Marxism, New 
Ageism,and the “prosperity gospel”
have in common—and what do these common factors have to do with the
idea that humans are “co-creators” with God?
The answers run deeper than
we might expect. For starters, all these beliefs involve elements that
contradict biblical doctrines. So they all bear a telltale hallmark of false teachings:
the lie, first suggested by the serpent in Genesis 3:1, that God’s Word
is not completely true.
To different extents, some of these beliefs
also share another trademark of many false teachings—a version of the serpent’s lie that “you will be like God” (Genesis 3:5).
A recent article promoting this concept notes,
“Scholars have
interpreted this [created co-creator] model in different ways, based on
the nature of human creative action. This action is seen as either
subordinate to divine creation action or the human creative action is truly cooperative with divine creative action."
.... Philip Hefner, a professing Lutheran theologian
and seminary professor who introduced the created co-creator concept in
his 1993 book, The Human Factor.
In this book, Hefner taught that God used evolution to create humans as beings who have freedom to further co-create reality in line with God’s purposes. In Hefner’s words, “liberating the process of evolution towards God’s ends becomes the God-given destiny of human beings.”
So, humans’ job as created co-creators is, in Hefner’s view, to direct evolution to reach new levels.
The Human Factor teaches that death and suffering were necessary parts of an evolutionary process God used to produce humans.
Because evolutionary origins would make humans continuous with nature,
Hefner argues that God’s image applies not only to humans, but also to
the entire natural world. Having rejected belief in a literal Adam,
Hefner also rejects belief in literal sin. Instead, he deems
sin a sensation of guiltiness that humans experience when the
“evolutionary instincts” hardwired into our genes conflict with the
demands of life in civilized culture.
These evolutionary reinterpretations mean that Jesus did not have to
literally come as God in human flesh—an idea Hefner calls “egregious”—to die for humanity’s sin debt. Instead, Hefner essentially teaches that Jesus died to show how humans can use altruism to advance evolution. Hefner summarized,
Christ’s message is not that he came to pay our debt through his death, but rather that despite our sense of guilt and inadequacy, we have never been outside God’s gracious ambience. The cross and death, far from paying some imagined debt, are instantiations of how life for us is to proceed, a project we are part of. That project is the creation’s moving toward fulfillment according to God’s purposes, a fulfillment that requires our self-giving for the creation, even as Jesus gave himself.Clearly, these statements are completely different from, contradictory to, and incompatible with the gospel of Jesus Christ explicated in God’s Word. Therefore, they qualify as heresy." AIG
