The Meaning of Reading the Bible Literally

When people say they take the Bible literally, they also often mean that any evidence of the supernatural is very important. This is again a reaction to the anti supernatural readings of the Bible that had become more popular in the early 20th century. So for instance, I remember as a kid believing that when God split the sea in Exodus for the Israelites to escape, it was a supernatural hand. When I mentioned this to someone, I was told that explaining away the miracle by saying it was a natural cause like a strong East wind was something liberals do to discredit the Bible,. which was really awkward because that's in the Bible.