I thought the exact same thing you do. It's confirmation bias. However, I honestly had NO IDEA that what happened to me was a thing. I wasn't in church. I wasn't coached by anyone trying to convert me. I had to research after the fact and found out what happened to me is very common. Which astonished me even more.

The best way I can answer your question is there can be no love without free will. Take away our free will, and we are nothing but robots. God doesn't want us to be robots. However, with that free will comes evil. Man is allowed to commit sin because of the free will that God has given us. God also exists outside of time and space. What we see as a linear timeline isn't what God sees. So it does not matter if we give our life to Christ when we are 18 or on our death beds when we are 90. Also, when you are truly saved you desire NOT to sin. We will always be sinners to a degree and there is nothing we can do to stop it. It's human nature. It's a lifetime struggle to be better people. So, while I don't believe that a truly saved person is going to commit truly evil acts like cold-blooded murder or rape of a child. They may struggle with substance or porn addiction. None of us are worthy of being saved. But Jesus Christ saved us anyways.