Christians: Please Explain

[John V]

I've asked this question before. I never seem to get an honest and straightforward answer. This is a map showing part of first century Palestine.

In Mark 5:1-20/Luke 8:26-39/Matt 8:28-34, Jesus comes across a man possessed by a Legion of daemons, he casts them out into a herd of pigs, and then somehow makes the pigs stampede into the Sea of Galilee to be drowned. A great tale of how Jesus saved a man possessed by evil. But there's a big problem with this story!

Mark 5:1: They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes.
Luke 8:26: They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee.
Matt 8:28a: When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes


The problem is that the location is wrong. Mark and Luke both clearly say the location is Gerasa. Gerasa is a full 50km away from the Sea, and that's in a direct line, and that's longer than a marathon.

No, they don't clearly say Gerasa. They say in that region. I'm in the greater Pittsburgh area, but I'm miles from Pittsburgh proper. What they do clearly say - and you'd know this if you read just one verse farther in Mark and Luke - is that this occurred right after they landed and were by the sea.