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Good points. Do good works and you'll have less time for evil ones.

My Spiritual Director once told me that we can't promise God that we will never sin again, but that we can promise him to fight the next temptation. Very similar to what you're saying in regards to "the next hour or for the morning, afternoon, etc." A good reminder!

Please clarify for me some

What about involuntary. Orgss.

We can promise God that we'll always pick up from sin and start again.

I meant what if a devout Catholic guy has an involuntary orgasm while fully awake--no fault of his own. Just innocently jogging,biking or doing a nice excercise program. Perhaps just reading

If it's involuntary, and such things do happen, there's no sin, nor relapse, nor reset.

Clarification--reading a nice wholesome book or simply trying to get sleep. No nocturnal emissions, living a chaste pure life and BINGO--out of the blue--an O occurs. I have read about "double effect" in moral theology. We do something good but a negative happens. This topic has been on my mind very much. If there is good moral theology book I can read please let me know. I really like the gym and wholesome activities

Thank you joeinMD! are you a Catholic doc if you don't mind me asking .

Rest assured. I would not commit MO ..with full intention of offending God.

In Catholic moral theology, nocturnal emissions are not sinful, nor do they make one impure - they are natural occurrences of balanced male biological functioning, indicative even of being healed from PMO addiction and impurity that is voluntary when awake.

In terms of good moral theology, Servais Pinkaers comes highly recommended. I have his book, "The Sources of Christian Ethics," but haven't delved into it yet... it's a pretty big read. Some of his other titles, like "Morality: The Catholic View" are shorter and more accessible (so I have heard). You can also try looking at JP II's encyclical "Veritatis Splendor." I don't think he discusses double effect much in that, but it's a beautiful work of moral theology.

Thank you very much. You must have a nice library

I know that nocturnal emissions are not culpable. What about if one is doing e cercises like biking, jogging or innocently doing a workout at home?? can be a bit of a nuisance indeed. I only went through college seminary back in the 70s..no moral theology...did know of a good priest at Fordham U. here in New York.

You're asking a lot of questions about "action theory," of which principle of double effect is probably the most famous aspect. You'll get slightly different answers from many orthodox philosophers like Martin Rhonheimmer, John Finnis, and Edward Feser (less of a moral philosopher, per se, and more of an Aquinas scholar). But all would likely be agreed that there would be no sin here, unless you were intending the orgasm... although there might be an issue if it is a common experience for you and you are not seeking out alternative workouts that would avoid the issue of orgasm.

Thank you for your answer. I do appreciate it. So the main thing is to keep in mind is intention. This sure does help. Alternative workouts has been on my list in the past. One situation can be tricky---unmarried guy in middle of nite gets a few erections (forgive me for my description) does everything to get back to sleep..maybe solution is to take a walk around the block if other methods don't work.

No better words, well said