"...In the first place every believer is free to follow the dictates of
his own conscience as regards the manner in which to spend his own money.
Secondly, we must always bear in mind that there are so few Baha'is in the
world, relative to the world's population, and so many people in need,
that even if all of us gave all we had, it would not alleviate more than
an infinitesimal amount of suffering. This does not mean we must not help
the needy, we should; but our contributions to the Faith are the surest
way of lifting once and for all time the burden of hunger and misery from
mankind, for it is only through the System of Baha'u'llah--Divine in
origin--that the world can be gotten on its feet, and want, fear, hunger,
war, etc., be eliminated. Non-Baha'is cannot contribute to our work or do
it for us; so really our first obligation is to support our own teaching
work, as this will lead to the healing of the nations."