If the Bible is a mere concoction of ideas meant to control people, why would the writers propose so many....?

It is a book full of information. Take it as you want to. Use it to control people if you want or use it just to inform yourself of the information in it and then in a way that best suits you. There is not a human yet who has read the Bible that has not had to do the same thing. Read it, refract the image internally and then reflect on what the images mean and then determine how you want to go about it. You may just want to discard the information as useless and then again you may not. I have found some of the information quite useful. Especially Proverbs. But that is my choice.