In all fairness, I fully believe neither the Biblical authors nor those who follow its words ever literally meant it to mean the Earth was flat. But this brings up two points: first, that it is a mistake to expect every single word of the Bible to be completely literal. Second, the case that someone could perpetrate a misconception about the literal word in the Bible is the very reason why the Christian solution is to pray about the passage in question.
As a final note, please accept my apology if ever I gave the impression that I suggested praying to find out if the Bible itself was true. My only intent here was to suggest using prayer when the case of confusion regarding some specific passage may arise.
The meaning of the biblical text should be interpreted is to be interpreted in the context the author intended. Sometimes the author intends metaphor, sometimes the author means it to be taken literally. When in doubt, a passage should be confirmed using other biblical passages. Any interpretation that does not agree with the internal confirmation of the bible itself is a false interpretation. It depends upon the context. Context, context, context. The creation story was not intended by the author to be allegorical. If you allegorize that, then where do you stop in Genesis? Is Noah and the flood story allegory (even though Jesus spoke of it in a literal sense?), how about Abraham and Isaac? What about Joseph? Tower of Babel?
NO, I am convinced that the author and people like him come up with this stuff because they believe that EVOLUTION must be true, therefore the bible must be interpreted to allow for it. That is called EISEGESIS. Here is a revealing fact: No one who has not been exposed to naturalism and evolutionary teachings would interpret the bible this way -- simply because there is not a HINT of evolution in there.
In order to make it happen, words and meanings have to be tortured and twisted, as we see the author do.
As I already explained, "literal" simply means one mus interpret the passage as the writer intended.
Mormons tell their newbies to read and pray about the book of Mormon and the truth of the book will be confirmed by a "burning in the bosom." According to your criteria then, the book of Mormon must be true. After all, they pray about it! Feelings are no confirmation of the truth of scripture. Any teachiing that contradicts scripture is false teaching. Period. Scripture is the confirmation of the truth of scripture.