The "In the beginning" thing was dealing with the Earth, not the universe.
But I get the point.

Could energy have predated the Big Bang?
A popular phrase I've heard suggests that it did.

"No free lunch".

If there was a Bang then the energy had to come from somewhere to make it.
If energy is released from an atom then how could it get there unless it was by the activity of yet MORE energy?
Again, "No free lunch."

So the concept of "condensed" energy has at least some philosophical validity for me.

Of course, that implies that all matter is energy and all energy is matter.
There is a seemingly infinite number of states of matter according to the level of density.

It's somewhere right about here that I ask myself, "Is Light matter?", and my head explodes.

Maybe somebody that has devoted their life's time to the questions can get there mind around that, but I can't.
Not unless they can explain it to me.

Rebel said, "Using this thought prosses answers questions that scientists can't."

I don't understand that conclusion.
If anything, it makes the Universe more difficult.
We're stuck in a "go with what you know" position.
Trying to make sense of something with countless, undetectable properties doesn't sound any easier to me.