Here is a way of looking at it. If a dog has puppies, those puppies grow up to be dogs.. If a cat has kittens, those kittens grow up to be cats. It is the same with all other animals. So the Bible says humans can become God's children. Wouldn't it make sense that a child of God could grow up to be a God? Maybe this human existence is just the "baby" years of our lives and we will be "gods" when we grow up.
You are absolutely right. Furthermore, while most Christians today see this as a heretical teaching, it was commonly taught by many of the early Christian fathers. It's just one of many Christian doctrines that has been lost over the centuries.
In the second century,
Saint Irenaeus said, “If the Word became a man, it was so men may become gods.” He also posed this question: “Do we cast blame on Him (God) because we were not made gods from the beginning, but were at first created merely as men, and then later as Gods?” At about the same period of time,
Saint Clement made this statement: “The Word of God became a man so that you might learn from a man how to become a god.” And
Saint Justin Martyr agreed, saying that men are “deemed worthy of becoming gods and of having power to become sons of the highest.” Some two centuries later,
Athanasius explained that “the Word was made flesh in order that we might be enabled to be made gods. He became man that we might be made divine.” And, finally,
Augustine, said, “But He that justifies also deifies, for by justifying he makes sons of God. For he has given them power to become the sons of God. If then we have been made sons of God, we have also been made gods.”
