Roger Ross Williams Quotes

People who have money have an obligation. I wouldn't say I'm entitled to tell them what to do with it but to use it wisely.

Don't accumulate if you do not need. The excess of wealth in your hands is for the society, and you are the trustee for the same.

I'm concerned about the cost, just like everybody else. There's no question that we have an obligation to help the people of Louisiana and Mississippi to rebuild.

Religions take donations and don't pay taxes.

The time has come for all evangelists to practice full financial disclosure. The world is watching how we walk and how we talk. We must have the highest standards of morality, ethics and integrity if we are to continue to have influence.

Government has crowded out the role of many social institutions, including the Church, that have been a great force for good in public life.

The culture of philanthropy is alive and very well in Africa. International aid strengthens and extends it, but in the communities where I have spent time, it is all-pervasive.

My take on tithing in America is that it's a middle-class way of robbing God. Tithing to the church and spending the rest on your family is not a Christian goal. It's a diversion. The real issue is: How shall we use God's trust fund-namely, all we have-for His glory? In a world with so much misery, what lifestyle should we call our people to live? What example are we setting?

If I try to make only enough money for my family' immediate needs, it may violate Scripture. ...Even though earning just enough to meet the needs of my family may seem non materialistic, it's actually selfish when I could earn enough to care for others as well.

As believers, we all have the responsibility to leverage our wealth for kingdom purposes.

Never think you need to apologize for asking someone to give to a worthy cause, any more than as though you were giving him or her an opportunity to participate in a high-grade investment. The duty of giving is as much his or hers as is the duty of asking yours.

What if we gave fifty percent of our discretionary budget to the world’s poor and then counted on the moral power of that action to protect us?

The bigger the government, the less the citizens do for one another. If the state will take care of me and my neighbors, why should I? This is why Western Europeans, people who have lived in welfare states far longer than Americans have, give less to charity and volunteer less time to others than do Americans of the same socioeconomic status.

The Church is her true self only when she exists for humanity. As a fresh start, she should give away all her endowments to the poor and needy. The clergy should live solely on the freewill offerings of their congregations, or possibly engage in some secular calling.

Pure philanthropy is very well in its way but philanthropy plus five percent is a good deal better.

Viewing the web as a platform for generosity is very different than seeing an opportunity to turn it into an ATM machine.

One ought not to encourage beggars, and yes, you are right, it is far better to donate to charities that address the causes of poverty rather than to him, a creature who is merely its symptom.

I do think that people have an obligation to give back but that doesn't necessarily mean that you give back just the traditional way. Maybe there's new ways to give back and make a contribution. I'm looking forward to some mix of philanthropy - maybe through a somewhat different prism - as well as helping entrepreneurs build some significant new businesses.

The man of wealth [should] consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which he is called upon to administer to produce the most beneficial results for the community - the man of wealth thus becoming the mere trustee and agent for his poorer brethren, bringing to their service his superior wisdom, experience and ability to administer, doing for them better than that they would or could do for themselves.

Charitable endeavour exalts the prestige and the status of the giver. This may sound unduly cynical but as with all philantrophic activity, it is not easy to unravel the mutually reinforcing motives of selflessness and self-interest. All that can safely be said is that most members of the royal family have difficulty distinguishing between concern about society, concern about the social order and concern about what best to do so they can remain at the top of it.

To receive a 10-point ride is a blessing in itself, but to have it honored by giving to those who could use a little support to accomplish the things they want to do in life is a bigger blessing. The school is something I believe hugely in. They provide a special place for kids to understand things that many people avoid or never learn to deal with their whole lives.

The Nation of Islam was the biggest contributor to the Million Man March, but poor people gave their nickels, dimes and dollars; some wealthy Black people gave money to make that March a success - and every nickel, every dime, every dollar was accounted for.

Let no one go hungry away. If any of the kind of people should be in want of corn, supply their necessities, provided it does not encourage them in idleness.

Generosity helps us make a concerted effort to keep the needs of others in the forefront of our thinking. Rich people should not feel guilty, but we should feel responsible. We are called to be good stewards of the resources we have been privileged to manage.

The church, the state, and the poor, are 3 daughters which we should maintain, but not portion off.