Skeptics often point to the differing accounts of the healing of the demoniacs in Matthew 8, Mark 5, and Luke 8, questioning the location and the number of demoniacs involved.

Regarding the location, Matthew places it in the land of the "Gergesenes" (though better manuscripts read "Gadara"), Mark says "the country of the Gerasenes," and Luke says "country of the Gadarenes." The differences arose because the authors wrote to different audiences. Both Gerasa and Gadara were part of the Decapolis territory. Gerasa was the better-known city, so Mark, writing to a Roman audience, used it as a reference. Matthew, writing to a Palestinian and Syrian audience closer to the area, used the local town of Gadara.

Regarding the number of demoniacs, Matthew mentions two, while Mark and Luke mention only one. Practically speaking, if there were two demoniacs, there was at least one. Mark and Luke simply center their attention on the more prominent and outspoken of the two, the one whose demonic occupants called themselves "Legion." Matthew, concerned with providing a handbook of Jesus' teachings, provides less narrative detail. Furthermore, ancient writers writing for a largely illiterate audience focused only on the essential characters to make the story easier to remember. The second demoniac likely hung back and did not play a prominent role in the interaction, leading Mark and Luke to omit him to focus on the main narrative point.

Matthew 8:32 describes a herd of pigs rushing into the lake. Critics often ask what a massive herd of swine was doing in Judea or Galilee, given that pigs were strictly prohibited by Jewish dietary law. This objection ignores the geographical context explicitly provided in the text. Verse 28 clearly indicates that this event took place in the region of the Gadarenes (the Decapolis) - which was predominantly Gentile territory where raising swine for food and commerce was entirely normal.