zabadak,where do you get the idea that the chances of Jesus' surviving are vanishingly small? I have already explained that nothing Jesus suffered would have killed him. His two fellow crucificees (who would have suffered the same scourging) were still alive.
Death from crucifixion would eventually come about from cardio-pulmonary complications, due to the victim's inabillty to breathe properly, fluid buiding up in the lungs and other nastinesses. Again I ask: if Jesus died in just a few hours what did he die of?
jake, what you cite is not evidence, merely stories. The anonymous "Mark" was written about AD70, the only earlier writings being the epistles of Paul, written about AD55-60. If Jesus was real why was not a word written about him during the time he was supposed to be alive? Why are there no eye-witness accounts? If you look at the evidence that supports the existence of Julius Caesar and other historical characters you'll see how utterly inadequate is the Jesus story as history. Unless, of course, you consider the Greek and Roman gods as being real purely on the grounds that some people wrote about them.
Ankou, you really should learn more about the subject. The idea that Pilate, whose normal way of treating unruly Jewish mobs was to slaughter them, would have given in meekly to Jewish requests that he should crucify Jesus is simply laughable.