I've run into people who believe that men wrote the Bible, but don't accept that there is fiction in the Bible.
True, but that position would be inconsistent with the OP's stated belief.
So a literalist who doesn't believe there is fiction in the Bible and would see it as a lie or ruse is asking how can a Christian who believes there is fiction in the Bible can believe in a God that would do such a thing?
Yes, and such a question only makes sense if God wrote the Bible. The question would not have much meaning if men wrote the Bible. Yes there are some other aspects of the original posts that ask different questions.
I doubt there is a single poster here who believes that God literally wrote the Bible and described a literal global flood that never happened. Yet according to you, we can only answer exactly OP's question from that position. I doubt that FY has encountered anyone like that here.
The title of the OP was the actual question asked in the previous thread. I note that the OP's own participation in the thread seems to touch on the title. But what would be the point of starting a thread because your original question was off topic, and then making the discussion of your original question off topic again?
Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also in prison. Thoreau: Civil Disobedience (1846)
The apathy of the people is enough to make every statue leap from its pedestal and hasten the resurrection of the dead. William Lloyd Garrison