“If I’m wrong, please explain in terms a child could understand.”
If God elected you to salvation before the foundation of the world, you will believe in Christ and bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Calvinists neither teach nor believe that anyone living in sin is a Christian.
That is a common misconception.
We just believe that God is the one who is the first cause of our salvation. We love Him because He first loved us.
Some verses to consider:
1 John 4:19
We love Him because He first loved us.
Romans 8:28-30. Really, all of Romans 8 is good.
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom he called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
Do Calvinists believe in “once saved, always saved”, as many evangelicals do? Or can one “fall off the wagon” and lose their salvation, despite a conversion earlier in life? If one’s salvation can be lost, then how does that jive with predestination?