ok lavos is sentient ... however is not a god; he is limited by time and space. i think the time portals he creates are not actually created by him but are malfunctions by the mammon machine ... kinda like lucca's machine's malfunction.
Correct.
Lavos is what I would call "Super-Sentient"
Lavos is not a god(can be argued), depends on the personal definition of a "god".
-though Mystics practically worshipped him as one. A "god of destruction" that would purge humanity - or so they were led to believe... Thus, on some level Lavos would be a god ONLY because their HISTORY would be added to his -- and ONLY because that. My definition of a "god" is a supreme being that *can* be worshipped.
That's my two cents on the whole spiel.
Gates on the other hand were created by the Entity, either the essence of the Planet or even the Universe itself (I'm betting on the Planet as it would use the Gates to protect itself from Lavos) Though the latter is contradictory, the Planet would have to know that sending Melchior to 1000 "A.D." TWICE; "technically once", (eg sending him there, then knowing he'd be sent there when Crono and party would try to intervene with Zeal's plans) Therefore, the Planet is aware of all possible realities?
"The Planet is alive, it has changed over the aeons" - Zealian Citizen